The lights in the room switched on abruptly.
Robyn was face down in the pillow. "No, Dad, I don't want to go to school."
"Well that's too damn bed," Joe said, snatching the sheets off. "It's the big day."
It was the moment of truth but still Robyn knew it could go either way. Thanks to the lighter treatment, she'd been feeling much more energetic and color was returning to her skin which was a good sign.
Robyn decided to make herself look decent with makeup and she'd ordered a few more wigs in the time she'd been home. Then they got dressed and were out the door.
"Whatever happens, I'll still be here for you, I'll still love you, I'm not going to promise that everything will be okay if it isn't what we want to hear... I don't know, but I'll continue to help you through it," Joe said as they closed in on Orlando.
"I know," she placed her hand on top of his on the armrest.
"Are you going to tell anyone if we get a good result?"
"Just management and the girls. I think I'm going to wait to tell the fans though," she decided. "I'm going to become more active on social media so they won't think I'm on my deathbed because there has been concern when I check my mentions but I won't confirm anything until I'm close to returning."
"I understand because this isn't like my situation where I got the result and was on Raw announcing it the next week. It's going to be a process for you and you don't need the added pressure of daily, 'when are you coming back' comments."
"Exactly. I'll have to gain 20 pounds, turn that into muscle and get back into ring shape. Also, wigs are okay but I miss my own hair so hopefully I can manage to grow it out to at least a bob," she replied. "But, let's get through this appointment before we get ahead of ourselves."
Robyn went through the usual tests and then Dr. Foster was off to the lab to look at the results.
She took a nervous breath and shifted after what seemed like an unusually long time. "I don't recall the wait ever being this long, not even when it returned. He's probably trying to figure out a way to tell us that it's still here or spreading…"
"I usually call you out on the paranoia but it has been a while. I'll go try to see what I can find out," by the time Joe stood, the door opened.
"I won't keep you any longer than I already have," Dr. Foster started. "I had to check and double check to be 100% certain before coming in here. I'm sure this has been pure hell for both of you over the last few months so I'm happy to announce that you're in remission."
A mixture of overwhelming emotions: happiness, relief, and hope poured through her. The only appropriate reaction was to cry. She even heard a few sniffles from Joe. In all the time they've been together she'd never even seen his eyes water but this was a monumental moment for both of them.
"It's over...it's finally over," she managed to say, hugging herself to him. "Now what?"
"I'll monitor you once a month for the first year and then every 3 months after that. Once you're physically up to it, you're free to return to the ring," Dr. Foster replied.
"Thank you for everything," Robyn said, hugging the oncologist. "No offense, but I don't want to see this place again until I'm required so we're getting out of here!"
On the way home, Joe took a detour over to Galina's house and pulled into the driveway. "I told G that if we swung by, that meant good news."
During the height of her treatment, Joe thought it would be best for him to go to them instead of having 2 young, loud boys running around the house disturbing her so she hadn't seen any of them in awhile.
Joe shifted into park and blew. Robyn unclicked her seatbelt and reached for the door. She felt nervous as if she was meeting them all again for the first time.
The twins were fighting over who carried the congratulations balloons but eventually it was let go and flew toward the sky.
"Oh well," Robyn shrugged, kneeling down to greet them.
"No, y'all can't climb on her like that," Joe scolded, taking into account that Robyn was still physically weak.
"It's okay, Joe," she said, giving them one last tight squeeze before letting go. Jojo was next. "Do you remember what you told your dad? I hope the offer still stands."
"I miss my room at your house and…" Jojo leaned close to Robyn's ear to whisper. "...I need to get away from the boys. When can I start coming back over?"
"Uhm, how about toda-"
"Tomorrow," Joe interrupted. "I'll pick you up in the morning and you can stay over there with us for as long as you want since school is out and we aren't on the road."
"Yeah, that works," Rob nodded, standing. "Galina…"
"Robyn…" she replied as they briefly embraced. "You're looking better already and just think...you were trying to give him back to me like you just knew it was over for you."
Joe raised a brow. "Wait, she was trying to do what?"
"N-nothing," Robyn stammered, turning him toward the car before he asked anymore questions. "It was nice seeing you guys but my appointment was at 8:30 and to make the drive we had to get up and get ready at 6. I'm tired."
"That's fine but I think you're forgetting something?" Galina said.
"What?" Robyn inquired before hearing panting and the rattling of a collar. Midnight and he ran straight to her as she bent over to pick him up. He attacked with dog kisses and licks. "He's gotten so big now. I didn't know if he'd remember me by the time I got him back."
After a quick detour at the Pet Shop to buy more dog food since what they had was expired by now, they went home.
"Can I finally do stuff around the house?" even though her treatment in the last few weeks wasn't severe, he still wouldn't allow her to lift a finger.
"Yes but not today. I'm working on something," he revealed.
She looked at him suspiciously. "Something like what?"
"You'll see when it's ready…"
"I am so tired of this room, Joe. I picked out every piece of furniture in here and now I hate it after constantly looking at it!"
"Rob, if cancer couldn't take you out, a few more hours up here won't either. Patience," he asserted.
"Patience..." she grumbled.
Whatever he planned was going to happen outside but he seemed careful to keep it out of her view from the balcony when she tried to spy. She could also hear him moving what sounded like furniture which left her confused. Sometimes he'd take breaks in between and join her.
"Are you done yet because the anticipation is making me restless?"
"No, and it's presented better at night so even if I was done you'd have another hour or so to wait," and then he was gone again.
Bored, she decided to post on IG for the first time in months.
robwwe: Hello!
Username1: OMG, how are you?
robwwe: I'm okay.
Username2: Is that your hair? It's gotten so long.
robwwe: Shhh...it's a wig.
Username3: Please tell us you're coming back. We just lost Becky.
robwwe: This won't hold me down so I know a baby won't hold Becky down. It may not be immediately and there's no exact date set in stone but both of us will be back in the ring eventually.
Username4: Can we have an update on your health?
robwwe: There have been some good days and bad days during this journey. Today is a good one.
Username5: What's romanreigns doing?
robwwe: He's downstairs but I'm not exactly sure what he's doing? You guys should him and ask.
15 minutes later he came stomping up the stairs holding his phone. "What did you do?"
"What do you mean?" she batted her lashes, faking innocence.
"I have hundreds of mentions on both Twitter and IG asking me what I'm doing and I'm sure all those people aren't wondering that at the same time for no reason…"
"You're a pretty popular guy. Maybe they are," she shrugged. "Did you tell them?"
"No and I should put everything back the way it was because you don't know how to act! If you want to see it that bad that you can't wait, come on," he said, turning toward the door.
"Finally!" she followed him downstairs, through the kitchen and toward the patio door that led to the backyard where he paused.
"I was trying to wait until it was dark before bringing you out but you get what you get since you were so impatient."
She gasped when she saw the canopy bed from the guest room sitting in the yard surrounded by candles that were lit on the grass. The late evening was approaching dusk.
"This is actually perfect because we can watch the sunset and the sky as it gets dark," she hugged him. "I'm sorry for ruining it. This definitely would've been worth the wait."
"Yeah, whatever," he muttered, pretending to still be mad. She could see the smile he was trying hard to suppress. "I ordered food so it should be here soon."
"A bed outside. It's so simple yet so romantic…" Rob noted some time later.
"What are you more excited about? The wedding or the return," Joe asked.
"Without a question, the wedding. Who knows how many returns I'll have in the future whether it be from injury or something else. WWE will always be here, them running shows during the height of a pandemic is proof enough of that," she snorted. "We'll only have one wedding. Well, I'll only have one wedding since this'll be your second."
"When?"
"I shouldn't want it in 2020 at all because when I look back on this year...the cancer returning, both of us losing our Wrestlemania moments, COVID-19, people are dying, the world's fucked up right now. I can't think of many highlights besides the proposal and remission. Some people may not be able to think of one," she replied. "But to answer the question, I want it to be tropical so whenever it's safe for everyone to travel again and have large gatherings, it's on. And lord knows we need a large gathering for your huge family alone, not to mention my family, our coworkers and friends."
"I'm letting you know right now...Ricochet's name will not be on the guest list," Joe declares.
"You and this one sided never ending feud!" she sighed. "Are you going to be 90 something on your deathbed instructing me not to let him attend the funeral? You need to get over that because neither of us are thinking about the other. What if I said Galina wasn't welcome?"
"Well that's my ex-wife and mother of my children. Ricky is just someone you used to make me jealous…"
"It wasn't to make you jealous but it clearly did. I was lowkey flattered though. You being jealous meant you cared enough about me to be upset at a competitor."
"He wasn't competition," Joe waved it off. "I've gotten over that."
"Then what's the problem?"
"Besides the birth of my children, my wedding day should be the happiest day of my life. I don't want to glance into the crowd, see him and think of the roughest patch in our relationship: breaking up, you being angry with me all the time, you two ending up together as a result, the lies, the cheating."
"Okay, now that I get," she nodded. "In that case, we can't invite the whole company because it's going to be awkward explaining to him that he's not included. We'll just have to pick the ones we're closest to. But anyway, I've been looking at a lot of online wedding magazines and making a Pinterest board of stuff I might be interested in."
"So you're just not going to get my input on anything?"
"I was actually waiting on the good news before jumping the gun but since we got that this morning, what do you want?"
"My first wedding was on a Disney cruise so everything was already set but this time I want a few traditional Samoan dishes," he replied.
Rob paused for a few seconds, waiting for him to continue but he didn't. "That's it? Just food? No wedding song suggestions? Colors? Locations? Guests besides not Ricochet? Okay, I'll keep that in mind when looking for caterers."
"When are you going to announce the engagement?"
"Probably soon. I need to strike while everyone still thinks I'm sick so that section of your fanbase that only eased up because of my diagnosis won't act up on social media about it. My road to recovery needs to be as stress free as possible," it was then that she caught him staring at her. "What?"
"Just noticing how beautiful you look under the moonlight," Joe leaned over, she met him halfway to capture his lips and angled her body into his, feeling his heavy breathing. His large hand roamed up and down her back. As their kiss deepened, she felt his body begin covering her, flattening her to the bed.
"Okay, that's enough," she chuckled, pushing against his chest and he took the hint.
"Sorry, got a little carried away," he replied.
"We both did. Things got a little intense there for a minute..."
"You seemed to have a reaction so I take it your feelings are back?"
"I mean, I'm not ready to go yet which is why I stopped but there was a hint of desire which is something I haven't felt in a long time. I don't know how to explain it but there were a few times where you kissed me as you were leaving the house and I had no interest and only went through the motion because if I was my old self, that's what I'd do. This time I actually wanted to."
"Well that's progress but you need to get on Google or something to see if there's anything you can do or take to speed things up."
"I'm going to tell you what you told me earlier about being upstairs. If the last few months didn't take you out, a few more days or weeks won't either. Patience," she retorted.
"I love you," he rolled his eyes, pulling her to lay across his chest.
"I love you, too. Are we sleeping out here tonight?"
"Why not?" he shrugged.
