"What if nobody shows up? I know NXT is going to come through because they love free alcohol but if the main roster doesn't make an appearance, I'm going to be so hurt!" Robyn said as she placed ornaments on the Christmas tree. Now that the secret was out and they were settled into their new home, Rob decided to throw a Holiday Housewarming Party.

"We'll definitely get visitors from the Orlando and Tampa areas but don't hold it against the ones who can't make it," Joe noted as he decorated the rail of the stairs. WWE made the decision not to run any live events or TV tapings between December 21 and 26. It was the 22nd. "We don't get much time off so a lot of them will want to spend it with their families, especially the foreign Superstars. The ones who couldn't make it have already sent their housewarming gifts in but overall I think it's going to be a good crowd."

"Who do you think is going to be the first to break the dress code?" the invitations she passed out called for formal attire.

"Probably me," he admitted.

"Joe, at least wear the tux long enough to greet everyone and take pictures with me to remember this night by. Then you can go upstairs and change into whatever T-shirt and sweatpants combo your heart desires," she chuckled. The doorbell rang and she looked at the time. No guests would be showing up 2 hours early. "I think that's the catering service here to start setting up."

"I'll get it," her father volunteered.

"I don't know why you're wasting money on a caterer when I'm right here," her mother complained. Friday's Smackdown was in Brooklyn where her parents attended, met Joe and flew home with them the next day to see the house, get to know Joe better and be present at the party before leaving the next day. Joe showed himself to be the perfect gentleman which went over well with them.

"Mom, you're a guest in my home and I wouldn't dare have you work. This is three rosters of wrestlers I have to feed so it's definitely not a one person job. I'm a witness to how they swarm catering at the arenas. Survivor Series was a nightmare..."

The last thing they set up was a mistletoe photo area for couples before going upstairs to get dressed.

"You know what I just realized? We should've invited the neighbors. With all the cars that'll be parked around the property and the loud music, the chances of the cops being called would lessen if they were in here with us. It's too late now because they'll probably see right through it," she said.

"Come try this," his voice was muffled by food as he stood over one of the refreshment tables.

"No thanks. I'm good for now," she clicked her phone to look at the time, 6:58, and began pacing near the door.

"Babe, no one is going to show at straight up 7…"

She turned to walk in his direction and that's when the doorbell sounded. She checked her screen. "I guess you were right. It's 7:01."

NXT arrived first and the others began rolling in at around 7:45 to 8:15. Robyn was there to welcome everyone and direct them to drop their gifts off under the tree. After that, things slowed down and she joined Joe on the sofa where he pulled her into his lap.

Dana soon approached. "So I took a selfie and tried to be cryptic by captioning it 'here to help the love birds celebrate their new love nest' without seeing the 'Robyn' and 'Joe' Christmas stockings hanging behind me in the background when I posted. I didn't notice it...but the fans did."

"And what happened?" Joe asked.

"Well, the most liked comment so far is: 'you and the rest of the Superstars posting from inside of the same house are condoning the behavior of a homewrecker by attending her victory lap party now that she has him," Dana read. "And the second most liked is: I was trying to give them the benefit of the doubt but you don't file for divorced and move in with the rebound within two months. They definitely already had something going on like most of you suspected. None of this 'just' happened."

Robyn shook her head. "Yeah, I should've mentioned after everyone arrived to be mindful of posting and to not give away any clues of where you are and why you're here. They would've just assumed this was like an office Christmas party hosted by WWE or something."

"I am so sorry," Dana apologized.

"No, it's okay. They were going to talk regardless so I'm not mad but this will give them something new to harp on now that the live video has been picked apart frame by frame and gif'd to death," she finished the last of her champagne in one gulp. "I don't want to win anymore."

"Said no one…ever," Sasha replied.

"I don't want to seem ungrateful because I know some girls would kill to have a push right now. I'm also aware that I have to be built up to look like a credible threat leading up to the Rumble but the reaction both in the arena and online gets worse by the day," Robyn said, trying to justify her statement.

"But at least you get a reaction," Sonya pointed out. "You inadvertently made yourself the most talked about woman in WWE. Everytime you appear on screen, your name trends all night with people fighting back and forth over the situation. In this business, all attention, even if it's negative, is good attention."

"I understand that but at the end of the day, you don't have to log into Twitter or Instagram and see the vile things such as death threats and other crazy shit because of who you're dating. I know Joe got hate but it was for bullshit reasons such as 'he's being shoved down our throats,' and some had no real excuse at all so it was senseless and stupid looking back. With me it's different because they actually have something to latch onto with the false 'homewrecker fucking her way to the top' narrative. Add misogynist men and scorned fangirls and there you have it," she said. "Joe isn't even suffering from backlash because smarks are actually giving him cool points for this! He also kept all of his female fans except the ones who are mad at him on Galina's behalf not knowing that all three of us are on good terms with each other."

"Just stop checking your mentions," Lacey suggested.

"If only it was that easy. I have a fanbase and I acknowledge them with likes and retweets. To not check my mentions would mean neglecting my actual supporters."

"Do you have a fanpage?" Bayley inquired.

She nodded. "Yes, I have a few that I'm following and communicate with in DMs."

"Ask them to help filter the positive tweets by liking or retweeting so they end up on your timeline and from there you can like or retweet them yourself. That way you won't have to see the hate."

"That's a really good idea. Thank you!" she sighed. "Moving on, it's the holidays so let's leave work at work."

Joe whispered in her ear, nudging her to stand. "We should try to be good hosts and mingle with our other guests."

Robyn's mouth watered looking down at the spread of food but forced herself to ignore it as they carried on conversations with Corey and Carmella.

"I don't know if I want to open the gifts now in front of everyone or tomorrow when we're alone. Probably now because who doesn't like being nosy?" she decided.

The most gifted gifts were gift cards to places like IKEA, Home Depot, Bed, Bath & Beyond. Someone had also bought them a Costco membership. The second most gifted items were bottles of alcohol. Bryan and Brie, not in attendance, sent a potted baby tree to be planted in the backyard. Seth and Becky bought them an All-in-One Cappuccino, Espresso and Coffee Maker. She also received various cleaning supplies, silverware sets and household appliances.

"Aww. Thanks everyone for the gifts."

"Especially you, Mandy," Joe added with a wink, referencing the lingerie sets she'd bought Robyn to wear for him.

"Anyway," Robyn playfully rolled her eyes at his comment. "You guys didn't have to show up tonight especially since it's taking away time from your own families and you sure as heck didn't have to bring anything but I'm grateful that you did. These last few weeks have been rough so this is definitely the highlight of it all."

The doorbell rang and she saw her mom disappear to answer it. Kacy and Ricochet entered.

Joe's gaze centered on the pair before his head whipped around to her. "You invited him?"

"No, I'm just as shocked to see him as you are. I invited all of the women in the old NXT group chat and Kacy was one of them. I said they could bring their significant others if they wanted to and he's hers. It's okay I guess," she shrugged. "Imagine him sitting at home scrolling through IG and seeing all of his coworkers here while he's not."

Now that the gifts were opened, everyone moved from the crowded area and spread. Joe was huddled up with some of the men while Robyn leaned on the fireplace mantel surveying the scene. She saw someone approaching out of the corner of her eye.

"Hey," Trevor awkwardly extended a heavy gift bag which she took.

"Hey," spoke back, looking inside. "Oh, a waffle maker! I didn't even think to buy one of these so thanks."

Trevor looked around and then up at the high ceiling. He whistled. "I can see why you moved out of your place. This is nice."

"Yeah, we like it," she smiled.

He squeezed the bridge of his nose and sighed. "I'm just going to get right to it so we don't have to make anymore awkward small talk: I had no business sending you that text. You were getting enough shit from the fans that night and didn't need it from someone you considered a friend and a lover at one point. I let my emotions take over because I felt played and deceived because I thought you'd given a bogus excuse to get rid of me so you could get with Joe now that he was single. Then, the real story got around backstage at Raw that he was separated and that you two were already in a relationship until he reconciled with the wife. After that, I started thinking about conversations we'd had about your ex and piecing things together. Suddenly, it all made sense. It was him all along. I felt like an asshole and I tried to text you several apologies but you never responded. Then Kacy guessed that you probably blocked me. I figured the best way to make amends was in person tonight."

"That sounds like a sincere apology but she didn't block you, I did," Joe interjected before Rob could reply.

"Joe, I-" Trevor began.

"Not here, let's take this to the kitchen where it's quieter," he suggested and they both moved forward until Rob grabbed his arm to stop him.

She pulled him down and moved her mouth next to his ear. "Tonight has been perfect and everyone's having a good time. Please don't cause a scene, especially with my parents lurking."

"Calm down, I just want to talk. There won't be a problem...unless he makes one," he declared before weaving through the bodies.

Still uncertain, Rob moved over to an area of the living room where she'd have a view of the kitchen. They were facing each other in front of the counter. The conversation seemed calm at first until, from what she guessed, Trevor said something Joe didn't like and things turned heated as they both took on aggressive stances.

"Oh no!" she whispered quietly, trying to make her way through the crowd. She could still see them. Trevor was talking a lot with his hands. Joe took a step forward and she closed her eyes, not wanting to see what came next but curiosity got the better of her and she peeked...to see them shaking hands. Crisis avoided.

Her parents had gone to their room at 10 so she didn't have to act prim and proper anymore. She could put the champagne glasses down and pick up shots. At one point she was grinding on him until he gave a warning bite to her ear, asking her to stop, not wanting to tent his pants in front of everyone. Most of the party goers started to leave right at midnight, especially if they had to make the drive back to Orlando but the rest lingered around until 1. This wasn't a college frat party so the house wasn't trashed but there were several wine and shot glasses scattered around.

"We can straighten all of this in the morning. You woke me up early to help you decorate and I'm tired," he yawned.

"I hope you aren't too tired because I have an early Christmas gift that I want you to open," she bit the corner of her lip in a mixed gesture of innocence and eroticism.

"Oh?" he raised an intrigued brow, before looking around. "What about your parents?"

"I'm not that loud and we're upstairs. I gave them a room down here for a reason," she grabbed his hand and led him to the bedroom. Once they entered, she stuffed him in a corner. "Alright, stay there."

"What do you have up your sleeve?"

"It's not up my sleeve," she coyly said, giggling. She went over to the bed, turning her backside in his direction. She thrust her butt out and then slowly hiked up her dress. He watched with great interest, although he didn't seem to know where this was leading. She revealed a tiny thong and pulled the strip of fabric to the side. Something shiny, black and plastic was somewhere it didn't seem like it should be.

It took him a few seconds to figure out what it was as he squinted and took a step forward. "Is that… a butt plug?"

"It is," she laughed over her shoulder at his reaction with a twinkle in her eye, continuing to show him her ass.

"How long have you been wearing it?" he inquired as he closed in on her.

"When I got dressed for the party at like 6. It's almost 2 so 7-8 hours now," she'd bought a small training plug for beginners and had been secretly practicing with it all week.

Robyn had never done it before and Joe never brought it up but they both seemed excited to try something new. He started by sliding down between her legs to warm her up by stroking her pussy with his talented tongue and sucking on her clit. Once he got her off, he flipped her over and swirled his tongue around the rim of the plugged flesh before reaching for the lubricant she had on the nightstand to slather it on.

He gently pull the plug out a few inches before sliding it back in, repeating the motion slowly. He then saddled up between her legs and grabbed his hard cock. He slapped it against her lips in anticipation before pressing inside of her vagina. He whispered about how bad he wanted to try her ass next.

Slowly, he removed the plug completely to squeeze out more lube onto her before pushing the plastic back inside. She grimaced a little because she was used to inserting it at her own pace and pressure.

"Are you alright?" he asked and she nodded. "You sure you want to do this?"

"I didn't walk around with this thing inside of me for hours while entertaining a house full of guests to go back on it now," she bravely stated before taking a deep breath. "Plus, I'm a wrestler. I don't belong in the ring if I can't tolerate a little pain."

She continued to let him work the plastic, allowing the muscles in her ass to adjust to the stretching from the movement before his other hand moved around to stimulate her clit. Finally, he tossed the toy aside. It was barely a second before he knocked on the backdoor, still coated in her juices from up front as he slowly pushed forward. Instinctively she tensed up, so he reminded her to try to relax and let him in. The sensation was different than the plug. It wasn't painful but it was still uncomfortable like her body was rejecting it. It felt as if she was a snake squeezing its prey. He moaned whispering how tight she was and started to move.

Once he'd gotten halfway inside, he paused to let her adjust to this new sensation, his hands exploring her waist, back and shoulders. After a few minutes of this, Rob was ready for more. His fingers resumed stroking her wet folds as he gave another inch and then another until he was buried.

She hissed between heavy breaths as her body tried to decide between pain or pleasure. As he went faster, the pleasure from his fingers and the sounds of his groans caused the first hollow feelings in her pelvis creating rippling waves throughout her body as she quietly expressed her orgasm. Seconds later he began to cum. She could feel him pulsating inside of her. He pulled out and rested his cock on one of her cheeks while she thought about how she just lost her anal virginity.

Rob said nothing, she was too exhausted to speak. Joe took her to the bathroom and started to run the shower for them to clean up. They stood there in silence as the hot water rained down on them before lathering up each other's skin.

"How was it for you?" he finally asked.

"It was okay, I wouldn't mind trying it again," she said and his mouth twitched into a smirk. "But don't expect this to become a regular thing. Maybe for your birthday or our anniversary."

"Wait, when is our anniversary?" he tilted his head. "I met you the day I returned which was February 25th. We exchanged numbers that night and seemed to fall right into the relationship."

"Let's not even try to pinpoint the exact date because I have no idea. How about we just celebrate it on your return date because like you said, from the moment we met, it was a go. It's been a wild year…"

"It has. Now let's get out of here," he said, slapping her wet ass. "Hey, now that I have the time, I'm picking the kids up tomorrow and we're going to head to Pensacola. If you don't have plans yourself, I want you to come with me."

"You've met my parents. It's only right that I meet yours…" she said, tying a robe around herself. He walked over to the bed but she headed to the door.

"Where are you going?"

"I made the sacrifice of food in order to make sure this went smoothly if you know what I mean," she replied. "Now that that's over, I'm hungry."


"We went to his father's house first…" Robyn began as she sat in the living room at Trinity and Jon's house. Joe's mom sent them to run an errand and he made a detour to their place.

"How was it?" Trin asked.

"Easy. A lot of men are weird and have double standards when it comes to who their daughters bring home and who their sons bring home. If the son's girlfriend is pretty, they're automatically given an advantage with the dad but the boyfriend is almost always given a hard time. For example, my dad basically gave Joe a full questionnaire when they met at the arena and continued interrogating him throughout the night about his intentions; I didn't feel like Joe officially had his approval until the next day when we made it to Tampa. Sika only had two things on his checklist based on the initial conversation: Does she love him? Yes. Is she after his money? No, she has her own WWE contract. That took less than ten minutes to establish and then we were off to his mom's place…"

"And what happened over there?"

"She called me Galina, twice," Robyn replied.

"Was she rude?" Trin asked.

"No, not at all. She was actually very welcoming when I arrived but for the most part she ignored me and mainly focused on Joe and the kids. I don't know," she shrugged.

"I mean you have to look at it from her point of view. She's been dealing with only Galina since 2005 so 14 years and 3 grandkids later, she has to relearn a new girl who came out of nowhere. As a mother, she's probably just cautious right now but I'm sure she'll come around."

"When you put it that way I understand. Also, there's no telling what Jojo has told her about me," Rob laughed.

"Right!" Trin chuckled. "Oh, sorry we didn't make the party. I knew there'd be a lot of drinks going around and we're trying to move away from that scene, at least for now. I hope you liked the gift we sent though."

"I did. Joe informed me of the situation and we support your decision 100%. You guys are his family so y'all can drop by anytime you want," she replied. "When are you coming back to work? The locker room is so much more livelier with you in it."

"I've been doing promotional work over the last few months so soon. There's so much going on in both divisions right now. Creative will have to find the opportunity to write us back in. If they don't bring me back in during one of the Raw's next month leading up to it, I'm hoping to be a surprise entry at the Rumble...that you're winning hopefully," Trinity nudged her.

"I don't want to get ahead of myself. They could easily bring Ronda back to win for Becky or have Sasha win it to face Bayley because we all know one of them is going to turn on each other eventually. And let's not forget Nia is training for a comeback as well."

"First of all, Ronda is Ronda and doesn't need a Rumble win to come back and pick up where she left off with Becky. Who knows if she's coming back, period? Sasha is a big contender and I could see her being final 4 but she doesn't necessarily need the win either. This is your moment!"

"Nothing is certain in WWE until it happens. I have momentum behind me now but someone else could easily get over within the next month, prompting management to push whatever plans they had for me to the back burner. We'll see though…"

"If you didn't know how pessimistic she is, now you know," Joe stood over the sofa from behind where they sat. "Are you ready? I need to get these groceries back to the house before Mom comes calling."

"When are you going back home?"

"We're going to leave tomorrow afternoon. I'll drop the kids off at home so I can enjoy a quiet Christmas Eve night alone with my baby," he said, leaning down to put his arms around her and she cupped his jaw.

"So cute," Trin cooed. "I'm going to miss seeing Galina at family functions but he couldn't have picked a better successor."

Joe parked in front of his mother's house and left the car running. "I'll be right back."

She unclicked her seatbelt. "Actually, I have to use the restroom. I thought I could hold it until we got to the hotel but I don't think so now."

He killed the engine. "Come on."

"You grew up here so I knew you didn't get lost but you sure took your time," his mother said when they walked in.

"I made a few stops. We're getting ready to go once we find the kids. Where are they?" he looked around.

"They're in the back playing with their cousins that they don't get a chance to see that often. Why don't you and Gali..Robyn go ahead to the hotel and let them stay here," she suggested. He was about to protest. "Seriously, go."

"Well if you insist," he replied. "I'm going to tell them I'll be back in the morning so they'll know what's going on."

"And I'm going to the bathroom," Robyn announced. By the time she came out, Joe still hadn't made it from wherever he went off to. His mom was standing around in the kitchen and she didn't want to look rude by going out to wait in the car. She was getting ready to say something until his mother beat her to it.

"I don't know why Joe brought you here…"

"Uhm…?" Rob was taken aback, feeling insulted.

"...during this time. You never bring a new partner to meet the family during the holidays. Everything is so hectic. As you can see, we have people in and out. I'm constantly thinking of did I get everything for Christmas or forget anyone," she explained and Robyn could see where this was going and relaxed. "My son talks about you alot and the little time I spent with you, you seemed lovely. Maybe in the future during a slower time we can get a chance to spend more time together."

She nodded. "I agree. It seemed like every time we'd get into a conversation, Joe would interrupt like, 'Rob, come meet my Uncles, Aunts, Sisters, Cousins, Random Friend from High School,' so I was pretty much up and down all day."

Joe came back to join them and usher her out of the door. "We'll be back in the morning."

"That was nice," she noted when they loaded into the car. "I thought there was an issue but it turned out to be a misunderstanding. We really met each other's families this week. We've grown so much as a couple. I feel like we're one now, more than ever before. How did we even get here?"

"I drove…" he muttered sarcastically.

"Joe!"

"I really don't know how all of this happened but I'm glad and I want to keep moving forward. I got something for you," he reached into the glove compartment in front of her and pulled out a long jewelry box with a bow on top. "You gave me an early Christmas present last night and I decided to return the favor."

Robyn opened the lid to see a shiny necklace with 3 diamonds surrounding one black diamond in the middle. She gasped. "Have you been going through my stuff because I swear I have a pair of black diamond earrings that look just like this? I don't know what to say besides I love it. I wasn't sure you'd get me anything especially after I went into bridezilla mode for days leading up to last night. It was like a Christmas party, housewarming party and official 'coming out as a couple' party wrapped into one so I wanted everything to be perfect. Oh, wait, I didn't mean to say bridezilla because we aren't there yet but you get the point."

"Yeah, I get it. However, I am going to marry you one day and I don't care if you go bridezilla or not. I need for you to know that I love you and I've gone back on a lot of things during our relationship but I'm going to keep my word on this," he declared.

"I know and I love you too but before you think about marrying again you need to focus on pushing that divorce through because even though I try not to think about this, it's a fact that legally, I'm still dating, shacking up with and sleeping with a married man."

"Working on it," he replied.

"Random but after spending time with your family, I have a question: does anyone actually call you Leati?"


"You look so cute like that," Joe complimented Robyn as she sat in her Christmas pajamas and Santa hat. He pulled out his phone to capture the moment. "I'm posting this."

"You know that's not a good idea, Joe…"

"It's Christmas. Who could possibly be in a bad mood today?" he asked.

"You'd be surprised," she muttered. "My comments are still off for a reason."

"We'll see in a minute," he said, opening his app.

romanreigns: Hope your morning is going as well as mine.

username1: If I wanted to see pictures of your whore I would've followed her.

username2: You're with Robyn instead of your kids on Christmas morning? Smh. You just keep disappointing me.

username3: Why are you proudly posting your sidechick? I hope your wife uses this against you in court.

username4: Imagine being this invested in the personal lives of people you don't know.

username5: You can look at her face and tell she think she's won. Newsflash to all future mistresses out there: once you take the wife's place as the main, you leave a vacancy in your old sidechick position and someone is eventually going to fill it. He's probably taking applications already now that the thrill of the cheat is gone.

username6: Y'all need to get over it...

romanreigns: Since the beginning, we've remained quiet, trying not to dignify any of these comments with a response but enough is enough. I'm only going to address this once so screenshot it, pass it around: there was NO affair therefore NO sidechick. Please keep the bs rumors and speculation off my page. From now on, I'm blocking anyone who disrespects Robyn, both in my comments and in hers. Merry Christmas.

Frustrated, he tossed the phone aside.

"Told you so," Robyn gave him an amused, knowing look. "Welcome to my world."

The fans were still giving her a hard time and he felt guilty knowing that it was his fault. Galina was given a lot of crap too in the beginning but the difference was, she was a private citizen and could easily delete her public pages and go undercover. Robyn on the other hand was a public figure and needed her social media accounts to promote herself, stay connected with fans and further storylines. He knew the hate would eventually fade or another gossip worthy scandal would happen and fans would move on to it but as of right now she was catching hell.

"Gift time!" Robyn went under the tree and came out with a small, wrapped box. "I didn't know which to buy since there was an entire lineup but one just screamed you."

He tore through the wrapping and open the box to find a Rolex. He looped it around his wrist. "It is me. I love it!"

"Where's mine?"

"You have two more left. The first involves the necklace actually. The woman who sold it to me was flirting but the only thing seductive about her was the scent she wore. I asked her about it and immediately went to a department store to pick it up," he pulled out a perfume bottle that he'd stuffed in her Christmas stocking.

She sprayed it in the air, waited for it to settle and then sniffed. "Delicate but still sexy. What's next?"

"Close your eyes," he said and she quickly squeezed them shut. He walked over to the laundry room door and opened it. "Alright."

"What?" she asked, staring up at him until she heard the pitter patter on the floor. A little, black French Bulldog ran up to her. "Hi! Oh my God, she's so cute."

"That's not a she…"

Robyn rolled the dog over onto it's back. "You are correct."

"What are you going to name him?"

"How about...Midnight," she said, running her hand across his black fur. "I made breakfast but it's not much. I don't want you to get full because you're going over to Galina's when you get dressed and she's probably cooking so I know you'll be eating with them."

"Aren't you coming?"

She sighed. "Joe, I already tagged along during the Pensacola trip. I'm still new to the equation and I don't want the kids, well Jojo, to feel like I'm being forced on them. I like that you want to include me in these things so I can feel like I'm part of the family but there are certain occasions where children need to spend time with just their parents, especially when they haven't quite gotten adjusted to one moving on with a new partner yet."

"You're right," he nodded, pulling a chair back at the table.

"What time are you planning on coming home?" she asked.

"I don't want to pop in and out so maybe 8, 8:30," he replied. "Why, do you have something planned or somewhere you want to go?"

"No, just wondering," she disappeared into the living room and came back with presents. "These are for the kids."

"Thank you. I'm sure they'll appreciate them," he shook one of the boxes. "What is it?"

"For the boys, I just got a few things I saw while rolling down the toy aisle because at 3 they shouldn't be that particular. For Jojo, I got Nail Style Studio, DIY Lip Balm Kit, a Fujifilm Instax Mini 9 Instant Camera and some of that overpriced Jojo Siwa crap."

He raised a surprised brow. "Trying to buy my daughter's love."

"I doubt that'd be enough," she snorted. "We were on the road for her birthday last week so instead of giving it to her late, I decided to save it all for today. What did you get them?"

"iPhone 11 for Jojo and Nintendo Switches for the boys. G took care of the less expensive items on the list. What are you going to do while I'm gone?"

"Probably get started taking some of these decorations down, packing to get back on tour tomorrow and of course, play with my new puppy!" she squealed. He walked out to the car and she followed, leaning in the open window that he let down. "I love you, too. Have fun. Tell everyone I said hello and Merry Christmas…"


"Guess who's here?" Galina yelled over her shoulder when she opened the door. He entered bearing gifts.

"What did you get me?" Jojo inquired.

"What have you been begging your mother for since it was announced?" he questioned and her face lit up. She knew and he didn't bother to wrap it, handing her the phone's box.

"Thank you!" she hugged him and turned in the direction of her room.

"Don't run off yet, there's something else. It's from Robyn," he handed her the box. A ghost of a smile played at her lips when she lifted the top but it quickly disappeared.

They ate and later received visits from Galina's family and mutual friends that they still had. He officially knew that he made the right decision as he sat amongst everyone without feeling awkward. Usually the husband is looked at like the bad guy when a couple splits but no one treated him any differently and it was great to feel a sense of normalcy.

Later, he sat alone on the sofa with Galina. "...but yeah, Rob was a nervous wreck the morning of but she did a good job so it turned out really nice," he said, speaking of the party. They invited her but now that they weren't together, Galina wanted to separate herself from the wrestling side of things especially with that being Robyn's territory. Reaching into his back pocket, he retrieved an envelope and handed it to her.

"What's this?" she asked, opening it to find a gift card that would afford her luxury spa treatments for a full year.

"Just because we aren't together anymore doesn't mean I'm going to leave you hanging on Christmas. Now that all of the kids are in school, you'll have more time during the day and can put that to use."

"Wow, thank you," she said appreciatively. "Oh yeah, I meant to ask this earlier but how is Robyn enjoying life as the significant other of Roman Reigns?"

"Well…." he trailed off, trying to find the words and she laughed. "There a select group of fans that are giving her a hard time. I can tell you don't miss it."

"There will always be moments where I miss being Joe's wife but Roman's wife? No. I've been called everything from a bitch to a gold digger despite you publicly stating how much we struggled, didn't know where rent was coming from and how we were on food stamps before you signed with WWE. Let's not even get into your 4 outside kids with 4 different women in 4 different cities as if I would've stayed if that actually happened," she scoffed. "Nope, I'm not going to miss being the target of those lies and narratives at all. My social media accounts are hidden away so I didn't have to see it directly so I do feel sorry for her there. My only advice is to try to grow thicker skin and let them say what they want."

"I think she's learning that now," he looked down at his new watch. "It's almost 8. Where did the day go?"

"Thanks for the time because I need to start getting ready," she stood.

"For what?"

"I was invited to a Christmas party and I need you to take the kids to your house to spend the night. I'm coming home but it'll probably be late," she answered.

"I guess I better go break the news," when he walked to Jojo's room, the door was cracked. Her old phone was in one hand and the new one was in the other as she scrolled through both. He lightly tapped on the door and she looked up.

"I can't wait to pick out a phone case tomorrow. I'm looking at some online now," she said. "Are you getting ready to go?"

"You are too..." he replied and she seemed confused. "Your mom is going out tonight and you kids are coming back to my house to sleep over."

"Why can't you just stay here?" Jojo asked. "We have other bedrooms for you to sleep in."

He rubbed the back of his neck. "Jo, that's not a good idea. Things have changed and whether you like it or not, you'd have to stay over at my place eventually anyway. It'll be alright. You can bring all of your stuff. As a matter of fact, Robyn recently upgraded to the 11 and if I recall correctly, she bought a few different cases for her own so maybe you'll like one of those."

She pouted but still slid off the bed. "Alright."

He went into the boys room and packed a change of clothes as well as brought some of their toys. Then they were ready to head out of the door. "We're gone, G."

"What time are you leaving for the airport in the morning?" she yelled from the back.

"9:30."

"I'll be over to pick them up at 9."

The house was dark when he pulled onto the driveway. There wasn't a single light showing from the windows and it left him with an uneasy feeling. "I'm going inside and I want you guys to stay here. I'm going to lock you in."

He opened the door a few inches and saw the dog's cage sitting by the door and eyes staring up at him. He figured Midnight would be out and running around. Strange. Once he pushed the door open completely, he saw a trail of candles with rose petals scattered between that started a few steps inside. He followed the path that turned around behind the sofa, leading to the fireplace where Robyn was stretched out on the floor wearing one of the lingerie sets from Mandy and the necklace he gifted. There was a whiff of the new perfume in the air.

"Welcome home. I'm sure you enjoyed your Christmas day, now it's time to enjoy your Christmas night," she said, sitting up.

"Wait!" he exclaimed. "Shit, I hate that this is going to waste but my kids are out there in the car and they're spending the night."

"Oh!" she shot up. "You get the candles. Just blow them out and kick or throw them in the laundry room over there. I'm going to get the broom and dustpan for the rose petals."

He laughed as he hustled, carrying armfuls of candles at a time. "I figured when you asked me what time I was coming home that you had something planned. Good thing I was quick on my feet because imagine Jojo walking in and seeing...that."

"The last thing I want to do is traumatize the girl on top of everything else she thinks I've done. Galina would probably never allow them to come back over here again," she hastily swept up the evidence. "I'm going to go change into something decent. You can let Midnight out. That should keep them occupied until I come back down. I put him on lockdown because he kept trying to get near the candles and I was scared he'd burn his nose near them."

He watched as her ass bounced in a thong while she ran up the stairs, making him want to tackle her right then and there. Maybe he could if they made it quick…no. It had already been ten minutes of them trying to clean up the scene. Any longer than that and one of the kids, likely Jojo, would eventually try to get out to see what was going on. He would much rather Jojo catch Robyn stretched out in lingerie than to catch them in the act.

Passing by, he unleashed Midnight and then went outside to bring in the kids. The children walked inside and the dog immediately approached.

"That's Midnight," Joe introduced. "Robyn will be down in a few minutes."

"Can I go to my room?" Jojo asked.

"Joelle…" he started before shaking his head to stop himself. Like Robyn mentioned, he couldn't force her onto the children. Jojo had to get over it in her own time. "Do you remember where it is?"

She nodded. "Upstairs, the second door on the left."

Robyn descended the stairs about 5 minutes later in a pair of pajamas. She looked around to see only 2 children accounted for. "Where's Jojo?"

"I guess she was tired so she went straight to her room," he replied and she couldn't hide the disappointment on her face but she quickly changed her expression.

She cleared her throat. "Alright, everybody in the kitchen."

He watched as she, along with the boys made sugar cookies. Then, she made chocolate chip waffles that she dropped a scoop of ice cream on and then squeezed caramel syrup over it.

"Should I make cupcakes, too?" she pondered.

"Absolutely not! They're going to be hyper enough as it is. Keep in mind we have to get back on the road tomorrow and can't afford to have them up all night on a sugar high," Joe replied. "Now if you want to get up in the morning and make cupcakes, well, that'll be Galina's problem."

"Do you want a waffle before I unplug this?"

"I don't want nothing from something he bought," Joe grumbled.

"I thought you two squashed whatever you had going on?"

"We did, but that was for old times sake," he shrugged.

After they were done in the kitchen, the twins were on the floor watching a cartoon that he didn't recognize while he sat on the sofa with Rob curled into his side.

She abruptly sat up. "Wait, where's Midnight? I haven't seen him run by here in awhile. I'm nervous because it's dark in the house and since it's his first day here, he doesn't really know the place yet. I'd hate for him to hurt himself on something we have lying around."

"He was in the kitchen with me," Jojo's muffled voice said from behind as she circled around the couch. "I got some of your cookies, Robyn. I hope you don't mind."

"Of course not! Your brothers and I made enough for the entire neighborhood so you can have as many as you like," Robyn replied.

Jojo went to join the boys on the floor in front of them. She turned around again. "Oh, and thank you for the gifts."

Rob didn't respond, instead looking at him with a mix of shock and confusion. He didn't know what to say either. Maybe Jojo didn't want to be upstairs alone, she was only playing nice with Robyn to get to her phone case stash or maybe, just maybe, they were actually making progress. He decided not to dwell on it and ruin the moment. Only time would tell.