CHAPTER SIX: FROM THE FUTURE LOOKING BACK





A/N: Last chapter, people. As I promised, the explanation of what happened to everyone (well, I'm pretty sure everyone) that got a mention in my story is written here. I've really enjoyed writing this, especially since it was the quickest I'd ever written a multiple chapters story. It was almost like reading a good book, only in this instance I couldn't put my pen down.





"Knock his head off, Shay!" Trish screamed at the top of her lungs as she jumped to her feet. "Kill that bastard! Get him in a head lock! Kick him in the balls! Headbutt him in the-"

"Enough, Trish!" Rocky broke into his wife's sideline coaching. "Shay's been at this for a while now. She knows what she's doing."

"But-"

"But nothing. Now sit down. You don't want to distract her, do you?"

"No," Trish replied, pouting just a little. She sat. "But she's the first woman ever to have a shot at the undisputed championship. I think she can win."

"And so do I. She knows we're here cheering for her. She doesn't need to hear it."

Trish didn't push the issue. Instead, she turned her attention back to the match.

Shay - which was actually short for Trisha - had been in the WWF business for nearly three years now. She'd been a phenomenal success ever since her debut, having held several title belts since then. She'd been Intercontinental Champion, European Champion, Hardcore Champion, and that was just for starters. She'd never been Woman's Champion, though, having disdained the belt from the first. Most of the women that had held it had mostly been blond fluff-heads, she'd thought (no disrespect meant against her mother), and Shay had announced from the first that she had no intentions of being labelled as such. Though her hair was blond, a trait received from Trish, she was clearly no airhead. Her work record showed she was an excellent wrestler and strategist. Her win/loss ratio was unparalleled among the women - who were all still labelled as Divas - and was close to the top of the charts of the men's division as well. She had earned her right to be here at this moment, at the famed Madison Square Garden for Wrestlemania 48. She'd won her right to be here as others had in the past, at the Royal Rumble.

Rocky watched his beautiful wife settle back into her seat. She'd aged very well in the 30 years that they'd ben married, the three decades barely showed on her. He allowed himself a short reminiscence as Shay got Chris Jericho Jr. - the son of Chris Jericho Sr. and Stephanie McMahon, who'd tied the knot 27 years ago and then had him less than nine months from the date of their wedding - into the famed 'Walls of Jericho.'

One year after Rocky and Trish had married, their birth control had failed. At first Trish had been upset, having felt she could have gone much further in her wrestling career and didn't need the interruption in her life just then, but there'd been no question of abortion and Trish had resigned. Rocky cheered her up by promising to support her as best he could for her return to wrestling when their child was old enough. They'd hire a travelling nanny - a nice grandmotherly-type that had qualifications up the wazoo and a long string of satisfied customers behind her - so that their son or daughter could be with them often while they were on the road.

It had been a son, big and healthy. The birth had been rough on Trish - and Rocky, who'd very nearly been literally castrated in the birthing room - but she'd forgotten the pain as soon as she'd held their first child in her arms. Rocky had passed out from the sight of her blood and laid forgotten on the delivery room floor. Not to worry, though. Shane had been there to videotape the birth - another man that had risked castration, him because he wouldn't "get that fucking video camera out of my face." They'd named the baby Rocky Mavia Junior, R.J. for short.

Trish discovered a new calling in life - that of a mother. She never returned to the ring, quite happy to travel with Rocky when she could and wait at home for him with R.J. when she couldn't.

Their second child, also a son, was born three years after R.J. While that pregnancy had been planned, the delivery was anything but. Vacationing in a private ski cabin for their sixth wedding anniversary - courtesy of Shane and Kurt, who'd finally decided to become public about their relationship two years ago and had married six months later with Rocky, Trish, and most other WWF employees in attendance - they'd become snowed in and Trish had gone into labour a month early. Rocky had had to deliver his second son in semi-darkness all by himself, not being able to phone out for a doctor because an old tree had fallen nearby, knocking out both power lines and phone lines. And, stupid, stupid, stupid, Rocky had forgotten his cell phone at home. Thankfully, the cabin had come equipped with an old-fashioned fire place and plenty of fire wood. Also good was the fact that Rocky managed - barely - to stay conscious for the birth and there had been no complications. That son they had named David Snow Maivia.

Rocky and Trish were happy. They had two handsome children, a beautiful home that they owned, good friends, plenty of money to enjoy the finer things in life. They did argue, though, but then many couples did and still had a successful relationship.

A year after David's birth, Trish chose to do a selfless act for Shane and Kurt, two sweet men that had become very good friends to her over the years. They'd been trying for a while to adopt but had been turned away from every agency they'd approached. Same-sex couple adoptions were very rare - single parent adoptions were much more common at that time - and they'd come away full of despair. During one of these times, when they'd been full of angry words and had poured them out to the sympathetic ears of Rocky and Trish, Trish had come up with the idea of becoming a surrogate mother for them. She'd kept the idea to herself for a short time, considering all the ramifications of it if she were to go through with it. After a month she finally brought her idea up to her husband. He'd asked her for time to think it over, not wanting to agree to something he might later end up regretting. Not that Trish needed his consent if she really wanted to do this, but she didn't want to do it without his blessing either.

Rocky thought carefully about Trish's proposal, read up on legalities, emotional impact, and the like. Horror stories that he felt he never should have read worried him and became a factor in his decision. His choice in the end was yes.

They told Shane and Kurt together, smiling at the similar looks of incredulity the two wore. They'd accepted Trish's generous offer and spent the next few months mapping things out. Trish went off the pill and she and Rocky went back to using condoms. She wouldn't start recording her temperature and when her periods occurred until three months had passed - the same directions Trish had followed when she and Rocky had planned for David.

A standard contract was drawn up, perused carefully, and signed by all mainly involved parties. The four of them attended counselling sessions - by themselves or as a whole, most often. Carrying a child for nine months and then giving it away would not be easy for Trish, who planned to continue the sessions after the baby had been born.

R.J. had to be talked to. He needed to understand that this new baby would not be coming home with his mother and why. David was too young to understand and would be told when he was older.

Who would father the child? Shane or Kurt? Both were pretty much equally compatible genetically with Trish and both had a high sperm count with good motility, which didn't make the decision any easier. Finally they decided to make it a crap shoot. Both of them would be a father to this child anyway, so both of them would provide sperm twice a month to be mixed together and inserted into Trish's vagina, two days apart each time. Third try, as it so often does, proved to be the charm.

Trish had three men pacing outside the bathroom while she took a home pregnancy test. She'd come out with her head lowered - not letting the obvious truth be seen in her eyes - then lifted her head and smiled. "It's positive!" she'd announced.

All three men doted on Trish during her entire pregnancy, sometimes to the point where she felt on the verge of jumping off a cliff straight into insanity. But it was all worth it in the end. Tough as it had been for her, when Trish left the hospital, she'd given the daughter that was a part of herself to two men that would care for her and love her as well as she ever could've done.

Trish had spent three days in the hospital saying good-bye to the baby she wouldn't get to raise - not a forever kind of good-bye, as Trish would have plenty of chances to see her daughter as she grew up. She held her, sang to her, even breast-fed her, having refused the shot that it would dry up her milk and the advice that not doing it would help her be less attached to this baby. Fat lot those stupid hospital nurses knew! In the end, Trish knew in her heart that she was doing the right thing, especially when Shane and Kurt told her what they'd decided to name the baby - Trisha, Shay for a nickname - in honour of Trish's sacrifice.

Things truly had worked out for the best. Though the initial separation had been rough, Trish healed from it (though would secretly carry some of that pain with her for the rest of her days) and began delighting in playing a kind of devoted aunt to Shay, who had been made fully aware of her family history a bit at a time. She was a happy, well-adjusted girl that had felt lucky enough to have what was considered to be by others an unusual family. She called both Kurt and Shane, Dad, Trish was Mom, and Rocky was Uncle. R. J. and David were her brothers. Nova, born when Shay was twelve years old, instantly became a sister to her.

Nova had been a surprise in more ways than one. Just over a year before conceiving Nova, Trish had suffered a tragic miscarriage - the pregnancy another that had been planned - and had nearly bled to death from the resulting haemorrhage. Not wanting to risk putting Trish's life at risk again, Rock had opted for a vasectomy. The failure rate being that in extremely rare cases the operation could spontaneously heal and reverse itself. Rocky had had the operation and not given it a second thought - once the incision had healed and the hair had grown back, that is.

Surprise! Rocky had been among the fraction of a percent of men whose vasectomies had naturally reversed themselves. That wasn't discovered until soon after Trish had started exhibiting pregnancy-like symptoms. The doctor had run Rocky's semen sample under a microscope and discovered what he'd expected - sperm.

Rocky, concerned for Trish's life, had actually brought up the subject of abortion. Trish had been angry with him, slapping his face before storming off to be by herself for a few hours to calm down. Both had been apologetic when they'd come together again. Trish had been adamant that she would carry this pregnancy through to the end no matter what. It was against the odds for this pregnancy to happen and Trish had felt that ending it would've been a grave mistake.

The pregnancy had been trouble-free except for a small case of high blood pressure that had sent Trish to bed for a month. Rocky, the poor man, was once again called upon to deliver their child.

During a thunder storm.

On the side of a highway on the way to the nearest hospital.

In the back seat of a rented Chevy Nova - which was where Nova had gotten her name from - with two flat tires.

Rocky had another vasectomy soon after, wearing condoms for the two years following it just to be safe. Not until then, when the operation had still proven to be a success, would he stop using them.

Their three children sat with them now, cheering Shay on as she kicked ass in the ring. It was 22 minutes into the match - coincidentally also her age - when Shay got the Walls of Jericho on her opponent. She bent as deeply into the move as she could go and had Chris tapping out quickly.

When Chris was released, he stiffly got to his feet and wrenched the Undisputed World Championship belt - 20 years ago the two belts had finally been retired and a single new one designed - from the referee's hands. The crowd, as a whole, tensed. Either from anticipation of a continued fight or worried over the same thing. They needn't have worried. When Chris reached Shay, he gave her the belt, shook her hand, then raised her arm in victory.

Backstage in Shane McMahon's office, much screaming and cheering could be heard. Shane and Kurt were celebrating their daughter's victory over their nephew.

"Man, who would've ever thought this day would come?" Kurt asked.

*Yes, who would've ever thought it?* Shane wondered to himself. Things in the past 30 years had certainly been eventful.

Vince had escaped prosecution for attacking Trish, though not through a way he would've chosen. Shortly after being released on bail, he'd had a massive heart attack and died before reaching the hospital. His will had been surprisingly fair, though some suspected it was because he hadn't thought to change it before his death. Linda got the 50% stock in the WWF and the money was divided 40% each to Shane and Stephanie, with the remaining 20% going to Linda.

Linda McMahon and Ric Flair were equal owners in the WWF. What a laugh. The two had clashed much over the coming months, over anything and everything. All that arguing must've been a cover - that, or another way to release the strong emotions vibrating between the two - because after six months of their co-ownership, they'd been caught by some of their employees trying their best to stick their tongues down each other's throats. With word spreading quickly through the ranks, they'd stopped trying to hide their feelings for each other, though their passion was saved for when they had more privacy. They'd still fought, but people could tell it was a true late life love match. They'd married three years after Vince's death.

They'd spent many happy years together, enjoying the grandchildren from both sides when they came. Linda's favourite instantly became Shay when the baby was born. She, like Shane and Kurt, were worried up until the last minute that Trish would change her mind and try to keep the baby, breathing a sigh of relief when her son and son-in-law had come through the front door with Shay.

Linda had lived until twelve years ago, peacefully passing away in her sleep. Ric, never quite the same after his dearly beloved second wife's death, passed away three years later.

Linda left her entire WWF stock to her son, Shane. Not very surprising there because of what he'd done for her nearly two decades ago. The shock came later, a few short weeks before Flair's death. Perhaps sensing that his time on Earth was coming to an end, he'd wanted Shane to understand the reasoning behind his will, since no explanation for his actions were given there.

Stephanie would be getting his half of the WWF though nothing else, the rest of his assets being divided among his children, their children, and a few charities. Stephanie would get his shares because of a promise he'd made to Linda when she was still alive. Right up to the end she had loved her daughter, despite all the bad things Stephanie had done in the past. Ric had found the promise easy to make.

Not that Shane minded. Getting on in years, he knew having his sister back in power beside him would sharpen his wits and help keep him on his toes. So far she hadn't disappointed him. Stephanie had mellowed over the years. He did have to admit that if nothing else. Perhaps motherhood had done that to her. Love of a child was a powerful thing, able to soften even the most hardest of hearts.

Stephanie was in no way soft, motherhood or not. No doubt she was already planning on how to get the Undisputed title back for her oldest child, the only one that had become a wrestler. Shane looked forward to seeing what she would come up with.

"Come on, Kurt," Shane said, slapping his husband on the back. "Lets go congratulate our girl."





A/N: I hope you liked the ending. I didn't mean for the surrogacy to be so wordy. Like some other stuff in the story, it came out the way it decided it was going to come out, whether I liked it or not. Ric and Linda? That I came up with near the end of chapter 4, when I decided I was going to kill Vince off in the finally.

NOTE TO VINCE McMAHON: I know that you're a very busy man and may not ever see this, but just incase you do, I just wanted to let you know that I didn't mean anything by casting you as the bad guy. You just make a really good villian. Next time you're in one of my stories, it'll be different.