AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm baaacccckkkkk!

Christmas time is finally here! And I finally have a holiday where I'm free to do whatever the hell I want which includes writing and which is why I'm here. Hope y'all didn't miss me too much. I hope I didn't lose readers lol. It's been a busy year. On with the story.

WARNING: This story may contain triggering scenes and strong language not meant for all audiences. Viewer discretion is advised. (I love to get that outta the way)

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of these characters except my OC Kendra and other OC's I might have forgotten to mention. This story is a pure work of fiction (hence its written on) and most of the events and facts are completely made up so... I guess that's it.

Chapter 27 - Memoria

Flashback, early August 1989

Bret had just finished working a show in Calgary that evening when he got an urgent call from his parents to visit the Hart mansion and spend the night there. Knowing the current situation, he didn't bother asking any questions and went over to his childhood home as quick as he could.

"Thanks for coming so fast son" Stu Hart commended.

"Of course. I'm guessing this has to do with her?" Bret inquired sounding very worried.

"She hasn't spoken a word to anyone for the past five days. We're all extremely worried." Helen Hart said almost breaking into tears. Bret sighed. He knew exactly how Kendra must have felt cause he'd felt almost the exact same way for the past week, wrestling had just been his coping mechanism. No one could understand their various predicaments. No one.

"As am I, but what do you guys need me for?" Bret asked.

"She'll only open up to you Bret. She'll only talk to you Bret. I know this one for a fact. You're the one that saved her after all" Stu said.

"Yeah but I'm also the one who put her in danger" Bret mumbled.

"What was that son?" Stu asked. Bret shook his head.

"Nothing Dad. She's in her room right?" Bret asked. They both nodded. "Alright. Wish me luck" He said as he went up the stairs. He made his way over to her room in the lonely hallway and knocked slightly on the door. He got no answer. He twisted the handle but he saw that it was locked. Well damn it. "Kendra darling, open up. It's me. Bret"

Within seconds he heard the door open and almost immediately his sister jumped into his arms. He nearly shed a tear. They stood there for minutes, entangled in the hug neither saying a word to the other person. Two extremely broken people trying to remain strong.

"Bret, I don't feel safe here anymore." She confessed. He replied to this by rubbing her back up and down.

"I know. I'll talk to mom and dad. I'll take some time off from wrestling, get an apartment and see if you could come over to live with me for a month or two. That'll make you better right?" He asked. She nodded. "Alright settled"

"Thank you so much Bret, I love you" She said with her head still buried in his chest.

"I love you too sis. I love you" Bret said rubbing her back.

End of Flashback

Stone cold (no pun intended) silence filled the room after Shawn asked that question. No words were spoken for about a minute or two as Kendra stared at him blankly and he returned the exact same gaze. One thing was sure though, Shawn knew a lot more than he was letting on so there was no use of hiding anymore...

... or was there?

"I have no idea what you're talking about" Kendra said in a whisper.

"Fuck that. I'm not dumb!" Shawn yelled an action he instantly regretted as it made her flinch. "I'm sorry about that but you can't honestly expect me to believe you. It's as clear as day to me." Shawn said. Kendra groaned loudly as she ran her good hand through her hair in frustration before taking a seat on the couch. "Please talk to me Kendra. If my suspicions are legit then this isn't something to keep to yourself!"

"It's not that easy Shawn" She said. "I barely open up about anything. Ever!" She whisper-yelled. Shawn gave her a look of pity.

"A problem shared is half solved. Speak to me" He said. Kendra sighed.

"Alright. But first, what makes you think it's Bret?"

"I notice things more than people give me credit for Kendy and moreso I notice a lot of things about you... and Bret, mostly cause I hate his guts" Kendra chuckled. "See I made you laugh, that's good. Anywho, from the get go something just seemed off about you two. The first day we met, I just thought he was being a dick to an intern but when I found out he was your brother, I actually got worried. Remember that time he called you a slut and threatened to smash your skull, I was stunned. Who the hell says that to their own sister?"

"Hmm, my one and only brother" Kendra said with a sarcastic smile.

"Riiight. Then again, he always seems to harbor this anger towards you and to be honest I don't know why more people haven't noticed this. You always seem so scared of him no matter how tough you try to act. It was suspicious as hell but I didn't even piece the puzzles together until last week when you got the black eye."

"How did you...?"

"Okay that one was purely coincidental. I saw him walking out of the parking lot area a few minutes before I saw you. Signs pointed to him and every excuse you gave as well. That's why I kept hassling you on it. I mean, walking into a door? Really? I'm a fucking wrestler and you're in the wrestling business. That was clearly from a punch"

"Yeah, I know that excuse was weak, but do you blame me? I was honestly just tired" She confessed. "Your suspicions are legit"

"Yeah I thought so." Shawn said as he took a sit next to her on the couch and put his arm around her. "So, are you ready to talk to me?" He asked. She nodded. "Good. So first off, what happened this night?"

"He thinks I'm sleeping with Shane" She said.

"Did you tell him you're not?"

"I tried my best but I didn't get the chance and when I did, I got very untimely calls and a text that must have validated his suspicions. I knew he was gonna beat me up, he even slapped me but I locked myself in the bathroom until he promised not to hit me again. He kept his word though, he didn't beat me up which I guess I'm grateful for cause I don't think I could have taken more blows to my head or any other part of my body at this point" She said wincing. Shawn gave her a look of pity as he rubbed her back. "Thanks. But now I'm left with one good arm which is just great"

"Kendra that's awful. You shouldn't go through this. No one should. Especially when you've done nothing wrong. What in the hell is wrong with Bret? How long has he been doing this for? Cause you can't tell me it's something recent. I can literally see the fear in your eyes" Shawn exclaimed.

"Yeah, it's not recent. It started when I was sixteen. I lived with him for a little while and things got tense to say the least" Shawn's eyes nearly fell out of his socket. "Yeah, it stopped that same year though. He hadn't really been physical after that but he'd done a lot of things throughout the subsequent years like almost hitting me, threatening me or just showing plain anger but he only got back to being physical last week"

"Somehow I hate this man even more. Who the hell beats on their own sister?!" Shawn asked with the disbelief and disgust eminent in his voice. "And why?"

"Well... a lot happened that year. A lot of shit..." She said as her breath hitched a bit. "...I went through a lot that year Shawn. 1989. That's the main reason I went to live with Bret in the first place" Kendra stated. "I won't lie, I was a bit of lot to handle at that point but I know I didn't deserve anything he did to me" She said with a sniffle.

"Of course you didn't and you still don't." Shawn reassured. "So what actually happened?" Kendra sighed.

"I'm gonna be opening a can of worms with this Shawn, I'm not ready. At least not ready to share all the details right now so you've gotta accept what you get" Shawn nodded. "I went through some... shit with my ex-boyfriend and Bret was my main coping mechanism that period. He was the only person I felt free around for a while cause he saved me. My psychologist called it 'psychological attachment as a result of trauma' or something like that. Whilst living with Bret, he made me feel safe and I began to recuperate a lot faster than I should have which I was happy about. I felt better and I was more than ready to go back to my normal life and forget all about the shit I went through but then... everything changed"

"What changed exactly?"

"Well, Bret became a tad over protective which was reasonable at the time but then he'd kick it up a notch. Pre-all the shit that happened, I was an outgoing and incredibly social person, he banned me from going out or even having friends over. That didn't bother me much cause I'd always sneak out and whatnot until he caught me one day."

"Was that when he started beating on you?"

"No, but he was angry as hell. He sent out a lot of warnings. It wasn't nice at all"

Flashback, mid September 1989

"Bye guys, thanks for tonight" Kendra greeted her friends as they dropped her off at Bret's place. Slowly she tiptoed into the house, closing the door slightly. She did it again, successfully snuck in and out without alerting her sweet but over protective big brother.

"How nice of you to be back at this time of the night" The voice of Bret called out to her just as she was about to enter her room. She winced and turned around coming face to face with Bret.

Well damn.

"I can explain"

"What gives Kendra? How dare you sneak out after I've given you multiple strict warnings about how you should never leave this house without my permission?! God, what if something bad happened to you? Under my watch?!"

"Bret relax... it's honestly not that bad" She assured.

"Not that bad, NOT THAT BAD?! For fuck's sake Kendra, is this the first time you've snuck out?" She shook her head no. "Fuck, this is just great. What if you got hurt?"

"Listen nothing bad is gonna happen to me alright. I'm certain. Elijah and all his buddies are in jail. You can't just keep me trapped in this house forever. I'm a teenager, a high school junior. Plus I'm fine. Tina says I'm in a much better place."

"Fuck that, we both know you're not totally fine! And as long as you're under my roof you obey my rules Kendra. No sneaking out, no dating and your curfew is 6pm. Tu comprends?" Bret asked.

"Why are you doing this to me Bret?"

"You're kidding right?" He asked sounding exasperated. "Just never do this again or I might not be so lenient. Goodnight" Bret said exiting the premise and making his way back to his room, leaving Kendra in a confused state as she wondered what the hell had just happened. Or what the hell he meant by that.

Nonetheless she knew Bret would cool off eventually. He loved her. Plus there was only so much he could do.

Or so she thought at the time...

End of Flashback

"Well, it did sound that son of a bitch was just worried. I mean, Kendra. I would run mad if my baby sister snuck out of the house too" Shawn said.

"Yeah well, I was sixteen. And I would say I wasn't in a right frame of mind at the time"

"Alright, so when exactly did everything start?" Shawn asked.

"Well, after he caught me, his attitude towards me changed a lot. His tone became harsher, he got angry with me more and I dunno. It all just seemed like he was trying to go that to scare me out of disobeying his rules"

"But you still snuck out?"

"Ooh big time. Initially, in my teenage mind I just thought he was trying to scare me out of doing anything because he was so paranoid. So I just decided to act right but I still flaunted some of his rules. Everything went well, until one night..."

Flashback, late September 1989

Kendra checked on Bret three times that night. She was extremely sure he was passed out on his bed. He had a pretty hectic day the day before as he had to run a few errands and had to do something wrestling related. So she was sure he was knocked out for the night.

Something told her whatever the hell she was planning on doing was a bad idea and that in over her head for doing so but she waved it off. She was only going for a party. What was the worst that could happen?

She called one of her friends Brandon who was coming to pick her up and he assured her that he would be there within fifteen minutes which was good enough for her. Quietly she went down the stairs, careful not to trigger anything or make any sort of noise and had almost made it to the door when...

"You really think you're clever don't you?" The voice of Bret came from the living room. Startling her.

"Bret..."

"You really thought I wouldn't figure it out huh. You thought I wouldn't find out" He said walking over to the door where she stood, frozen. "Answer me Kendra!" He yelled. Kendra was a little scared but decided to speak up.

"Please Bret, let me live a little. Please" She pleaded.

"Fuck you!" He yelled. She was stunned and quite frankly so was Bret. At that moment, that was the harshest thing he'd ever said to her. "Go back to your room" He commanded. She stood in place still stunned. "Why the hell are you still standing here? Go back to your room!"

"Bret please"

"Kendra..." Bret was cut off by a honking sound from outside. "...oh you have got to be kidding me. Who is that?"

"My...my friend" She stammered. Bret narrowed his eyes at her.

"Call her right now and tell her to get the hell outta here" Bret commanded. Kendra reluctantly did just that and made sure to hide the gender of her friend whilst doing so. No need to flare up Bret even more. "Good, now go back to your room." Kendra turned around and walked away from him.

"Asshole" She mumbled inaudibly. Or so she thought. As suddenly she felt someone grab her arm roughly and spin her around. Next thing she knew a fist collided with her face hitting her straight in the jaw. She nearly lost her footing but luckily for her she was close to a wall and used it for support. Her head was spinning and her mind was going all around in circles trying to comprehend what had just happened.

Her brother hit her. And he wasn't done.

Next thing she knew he yanked her up by the hair and roughly slammed her into a wall. With that he smacked both sides of her face three times and when he was done, he shoved her down to the floor.

"I'm tired of putting up with your shit Kendra. You wanna act like a bitch, from now on I'm gonna treat you like a fucking bitch."

End of Flashback

Kendra wiped a tear away from her eye as she reminisced that day. Shawn responded to this by pulling her closer to his chest as he kept on rubbing her back. This was totally messed up. Everyone had their bratty teenage phases and the fact that Kendra clearly went through something more than she'was letting on must have granted her the laxity to do what she wanted.

"The beatings persisted for a while but I didn't tell my therapist. I was too scared to. I became scared of my own older brother and I hated it"

"I'm extremely sorry you went through that Kendy. Didn't anyone find out?"

"No. I hid it very well with makeup and I tried my best not to allude to anything. You're the first person I'm telling." Kendra confessed. "I feel Curt always suspected something was afoot with Bret and me but he had no evidence so he dropped it" Shawn was quiet for a moment.

"Did Bret ever leave any permanent marks?" He asked. Kendra winced then nodded.

"I have a lot of faded welt marks on my back but that should be it. Oh also, there's a scar on my face. Here" She said turning her face over to him. Shawn had to look closely but his heart nearly shattered when he saw the scar. It had faded a lot but it was clear this was a hell of a cut.

"What did he do to you there?" Shawn asked as his hand traced the scar until Kendra took his hand away. "Sorry."

"Thanks, I just..."

"I understand. But what happened?" Shawn asked.

"I don't wanna go into that one right now but I promise to tell you one day. Honestly. Just know he stopped beating on me after he did that to me. And I left his place a week after. The scar just serves as the greatest reminder of that period"

"That's pretty awful. You've gotta do something about this Kendra. Sure he stopped hitting you in like 1989 but it's obvious there's still some trauma there. I can see how scared you are of him still and now he's back to it again. I mean in a week he's already given you a black eye and put you in a cast. I don't want anything bad to happen to you babygirl."

"Me neither but at the same time, let's just let it slide. For the sake of my family. Hopefully someday things get better. And maybe when the full story comes out and he finds out, he'll feel guilty." She said.

"Yeah, but what about you arm?"

"It'll get better. Are you still up for that movie?" She asked. Shawn looked at her with pity. "Please don't look at me like that. I've been through worse. A lot worse."

"Alright. Let's watch the movie. But this is far from over" Shawn said mumbling the last part to himself.

"And Shawn?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you. For listening to me. It feels good to actually share all that with someone."

"Sure, thanks for trusting me enough to do so" He said holding out his hand to her to which she responded by entwining their fingers together.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"You did WHATTTT?" The voice of Tina roared at Bret through the phone speaker.

"I sprained her arm" Bret said once again. "Well her elbow to be precise but..."

"WHY? GOD! Why in the hell would you do that to her?"

"Cause she's fucking the bosses son! She's a whore Tina. She's always been. And if she continues she'll put herself back in that same position with Elijah once again or maybe something worse"

"I can't even... listen to yourself Bret! We've made such progress and now you're reverting to calling your sister names and justifying your actions. Are you even sure she slept with Shane McMahon? I know you feel guilty otherwise you wouldn't have called me. Now spit it out" Tina said. Bret was silent for a while then sighed.

"I feel awful Tina. I honestly don't know or understand what gets into me sometimes. I just get so angry with her"

"You're angry with yourself Bret. Everything you do is a self reflection of the anger you feel towards yourself. I've explained this to you a billion times. Nothing that happened to her is your fault. You've gotta accept that and heal"

"But, it was. I was the one who put her in that mess. If it wasn't for me..."

"Bret, maybe you should go back to the meds. You've been alright for some years now but you're relapsing. Please, for your sake. I'll prescribe an extremely low dosage. Just to calm you down. PTSD is no joke"

"Alright Tina. I just... I'm sorry. Honestly. I just wish I could let go of all these and finally be free. My mind is such a dark place at the moment" Bret confessed.

"I know and I understand. Just remember. Forgive yourself first. And with all this, try to have a talk with Kendra. And if it doesn't work, which it most likely won't, when you guys come to Calgary, stop by for a therapy session. For the greater good" Tina suggested.

"At this rate it's what we need. I'll keep that in mind Tina but I'll try talking to her as well"

"That's the spirit. Keep me updated and don't do anything stupid. Remember to take your drugs and God be with you. Buenas noches" She greeted as she hung up the phone.

Bret groaned loudly. He needed help. He knew he did. Why was it hard to let go of everything clouding his mind. Why?

His thoughts however were interrupted when he got a text.

Family meeting, after tomorrow's house show. It's urgent - Owen

Oh God, what now?

Meanwhile...

Kendra was awoken by the sound of her phone vibrating from he bedside drawer. Wait how did she even get on the bed? Last thing she remembered was watching... God what was even the name of the movie?

She looked at her phone seeing the time boldly reading 1:21am. How convenient. Then she went over to her text messages.

You slept off like a baby so I put you back on your bed. Goodnight and sweet dreams - Shawn

How cute. Though she couldn't deny a part of her wished he crawled into bed with her but, in time.

Thanks for everything Shawn - Kendra

Alright, so that was done. Then she opened another message. From her dear brother, Bret. Why?

We need to talk kiddo - Bret

He had got to be kidding her. From the timestamp it read 1:20am meaning it was the message that woke her up. She had no interest in talking to him but due to what he'd done to her this past week, she was in no position to do otherwise so yeah, she guessed she could indulge him.

No matter how much she didn't want to.

But the text that caught her attention the most was one she got from Owen of all people. They rarely texted so this was new.

Family meeting, after tomorrow's house show. It's urgent - Owen

God knew what this was about but she was way too tired to stress about it at that moment. Instead she dropped her phone right back on the drawer and went back to sleep trying to get as much comfort as she could with the cast on her arm.

I'll call this chapter an intense filler. Cause that was basically what it was lol. More insight into Bret and Kendra's backstory but still you guys know next to nothing. Both are dealing with a lot mentally and I hope subsequent chapters have better in store for them.

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter though it was a bit depressing. I'll try to make next chapter a bit more exciting with our favorite characters Triple H and Vince McMahon. Till then, I love you guys so much. Continue to stay safe and Merry Christmas in advance.