Disclaimer Seth Rollins, Dolph Ziggler, Triple H, Stephanie McMahon, and the various other superstars mentioned in this story are the property of the WWE and/or the actors / sports entertainers / superstars that portray them. This story is intended as tribute only and is not intended to infringe on any copyrights.
Original characters are the property of myself, and only children of my own imagination. Any resemblance to any real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental.
The Girl Who Lives
Part Ten
Seth went out for what was left of the backstage, after show meet and greet, but his mind was in Davenport, with Kayla and Payton. He kept his phone close by, waiting for it to ring and when it finally did, he excused himself as fast as possible from the group of fans he was talking with, and ducked behind the first door he saw, which turned out to be a broom closet. He didn't care, it was private and that's all that mattered.
When he went to answer, he saw Payton's number on the screen. "Pay?"
"No, love, it's me," Kayla's voice was warm and friendly, but he could tell she was exhausted. "Payton is asleep in one of the guest rooms. I'm using her phone in case her parents call me, I left them my cell number."
"They haven't called?" Seth asked, feeling his anger rising again. It had been at least three hours since they had left Payton alone, and they hadn't noticed she was gone, yet?
"No, Myron came home as we were leaving." Kayla said, then sighed. "Hang on a moment."
"Okay." Seth heard the sound of the back slider door opening and Kayla stepping out.
"I'm pretty sure Payton is sound asleep," Kayla said. "But just in case, I wanted to step outside so she doesn't hear, just in case she wakes up. Where was I? Oh yes, Myron came by as we were leaving. Seth, I have no way to prove this, but I swear, he didn't even realize they had left Payton alone in the house. He was coming to get a pair of Preston's pajamas and a stuffed animal he likes and he stared at Payton as if he had no clue she had been left home, like she was in the wrong place."
Seth swore softly, but distinctly.
"Yeah," Kayla agreed. "That was my reaction. I mean, I didn't want to fight, apparently Preston is pretty sick, so I'm willing to cut him some slack, but-" she paused and sighed. "But, he didn't rush to her, Seth. I mean, I can sorta-kinda understand that in the commotion, Payton got overlooked-"
"-What?" Seth interrupted, before he could stop himself, "You think-"
Now it was her turn to interrupt. "-I'm not excusing what they did!" she protested. "I'm just saying that I can maybe see how it might happen. But still, he didn't rush over and gather Payton in his arms and tell her over and over again how sorry he was. He didn't look mortified. I understand Preston is really sick, but still, Payton is his daughter, too. But instead of worrying that he left his daughter alone, he was more upset that I had been called to come over. He kept saying, 'Sorry she bothered you,' like he really felt she should have just stayed home alone and waited for them to return."
Seth was suddenly aware that he needed to cut his nails because the fist of his left hand was clenched tightly and those fingernails were digging into his palms to the point where he might have cut into the skin. "H-he was upset that she bothered you?" he asked, even though he had heard her perfectly well, he just couldn't believe the words themselves. "He left his eight year old daughter in the house, all alone late at night, and he was worried that she bothered you?"
"Yeah," Kayla said. "That seemed to be the issue here. That I had been disturbed. Of course I told him it was no problem."
"What did he say?"
"I don't remember exactly," Kayla said. "He was going to take Payton with him, but I talked him into letting me bring her here. Again, I think Preston is in serious trouble, but I didn't get into that. They're admitting him at the hospital, thus why Myron came home for pajamas and a favorite toy. I told him that under the circumstances, he and Andrea should be able to focus their attention on Preston and I didn't mind watching Payton." Again, she paused, but Seth knew she was gathering her thoughts again. "It honestly didn't take much convincing. I told him that I would bring Payton to the hospital to visit tomorrow, but that while Preston is in the hospital, maybe it would be best if Payton was someplace where someone could look out for her, and volunteered."
"And he agreed?" Seth asked.
"Yeah," Again a pause, as if she was trying to remember the incident clearly. "I don't know, Seth, I've never had a dying child, so I don't know how your brain would work in those circumstances, but it just seemed so...off to me. Maybe I'm biased because I rather like Payton and I don't really know Preston, but I'm just thinking that if I'd left my kid and then someone who I don't really know offered to take care of her for me, I'd really think twice about it. I'd probably call someone I knew well, and trusted. I know they have no family close by, and I do think the only extended family are her grandparents, but they're religious, don't they go to Church? Again, if it were me, I'd call a member of the congregation of the Church and ask them if they could watch Payton. But he was all right with my taking her. I gave him my cell phone number and the house number and we agreed to keep in touch."
It was at that point that Seth felt like his mind was cracking. He wasn't going insane, but the exhaustion from being on the Road to Wrestlemania, the show tonight, and all that had happened, his mind was tell him enough was enough and it just didn't want to process any more. "I agree," he said, unclenching his fist, realizing that his nails had cut into the palm and there were tiny ribbons of blood in his hands. "And you did the right thing, bringing her home. Andrea and Myron may not know us, but we know we're good people, Pay does too. And when we hang up, I'm going to go and throw myself at the mercy of Hunter and Stephanie and try to get there as soon as possible."
"You don't have to," Kayla said, "I can handle this."
"I know you can," he said. "But... Payton said some things tonight that I want to talk to her about, face to face. And I think with all that's going on, she-" he hesitated, hoping he didn't sound too full of himself, "-she needs me, Kayla. I really think she needs me."
"You're right," Kayla said and even though they were on the phone, Seth knew she nodded as well. "She does need you. I know you're her surrogate uncle, but right now, I think you're the closest thing she's got to a dad."
"Yeah," Seth agreed. There it was, out in the open, at least between the two of them. Seth was more of a parent than the girl's own parents, Kayla too. "I'm going to go and see what I can do, I'll keep in touch with you to keep you up to date on what's going on. When Pay wakes up, if I'm not there, you tell her I love her and I'm doing what I can to get to her, okay?"
"I will," Kayla said.
When he had disconnected, he left the broom closet, a look of determination on his face. He would get a few days off, he would go and be with Payton and Kayla. And something would be done about this.
He had never regretted his career choice, he had wanted to be a professional wrestler for as long as he could remember. He could have gone to college, he had the grades and the SAT scores, but he never considered it, because like Dean, the idea of going to college seemed like a huge waste of four peak physical years. He understood why Roman had gone to college, he had a football scholarship and that was the way to get into the pros. But there were no professional wrestling teams in college, no scouts went around to colleges looking for potential candidates for the WWE. If you wanted to be a wrestler, you were better to go to the indies and get your indie cred first, Seth knew that and he never had regretted it. He didn't even regret it now, but for the first time ever, he wondered if a normal, stable, life would have been all that terrible for him.
I would be home, if that were the case, he told himself, I'd be there to deal with it.
In his anger and frustration, he completely overlooked that if he had a regular 9-5 job, he likely never would have met Payton.
Seth was later grateful for not only his determination, but for his anger and frustration as well. Determination was all fine and good, but at first, Hunter and Vince looked at him like he was piss-your-pants, call-the-guys-with-the-butterfly-net, crazy when he said he needed to miss the next few house shows to fly home. Even after he explained the situation, or maybe even more so after he explained the situation, they still thought he was out of his mind. He did understand that while they had seen him and Payton together, and did know they were friends, he hadn't gone out of his way to tell them exactly how close he'd gotten to the wrong Caldwell. They had wanted him to become friend with Preston, when that didn't work, they probably figured he was just being nice to Payton because, well, why not? They had no clue how much he cared for the girl and how much she cared for him. Again, though, he felt awkward trying to explain without using words like "love." Not because he was ashamed, he wasn't, but because things were so strange and awkward these days. Finally though, he realized that unless he did tell them how he felt, they were just going to think he was taking off on a lark.
"She's the daughter I never thought I wanted, or at least the one I didn't think I wanted for ten more years or so," he finally said. "And she's got it pretty rough right now. I'm not going to disrespect the Caldwells, because they have enough going on, but they're neglecting that girl."
There was a fair bit of discussion about that, Hunter and Vince seemed to think Andrea and Myron were sterling examples of parenting. Seth tried to point out that they were basing that only on how they saw the two of them treat Preston. It didn't help much with Hunter and Vince. Do I quit? he wondered. Or get myself injured? It wasn't unknown in this business, to deliberately botch a move in order to get time off. He had never resorted to such a thing, thought it was dishonest and wrong, but for the first time he actually let the idea play around in his mind.
It was Stephanie who spoke up for him. She had kept fairly quiet, letting her husband and father deal with the issue, but when she finally did speak, it was with a quiet but steady voice. This wasn't a voice she used often, but when she did, you listened. "Give us three hours," she said, "I know it's the middle of the night, but we'll work this out. We'll film a promo that shows you getting injured in character, that we'll put on the You Tube channel and the web site. In return we'll fly you to Iowa in the private jet."
"Thank you!" he said, a sigh of relief following the words.
"Stephanie-" Vince started to protest, but she shook her head.
"This is important," Stephanie interrupted, overriding her father. "This little girl was in a scary and dangerous situation and she reached out to one of our employees for help and he got her out of that situation and someplace safe-"
"-The girl was at home," Vince interrupted to remind her. "And yes, she should not have been alone, but still, she was home."
"I don't think they live in the best neighborhood," Seth interjected.
"She's also eight years old," Stephanie reminded him. "And her folks pretty much abandoned her alone at home. She reached out to Seth, and Seth took care of the problem and got his fiancee to get her someplace safe." She paused for a moment, biting her lower lip, clearly thinking before continuing, "I admit, I never paid much attention to Payton, she always struck me as a quiet, introverted child. I'm not going to pass judgment on the Caldwells, they have enough issues right now with Preston. But I will say the idea of 'accidentally' leaving any of my girls home alone at night, at Payton's age, horrifies me. It's something I can't imagine. And as a mother, I am grateful to Seth for what he did. And if he wants to see Payton? To reassure her that everything is going to be okay? Then we let him do it. We pride ourselves on being a family friendly company, well, let's see if we can't pride ourselves on being a family compassionate company, too." She looked at Seth. "Let's get this show on the road, the faster we're done, the faster you're on your way."
And that was the end of it. They filmed the promotion and true to her word, two hours and fifty-seven minutes later, he was boarding one of the company's private planes to head to Davenport Iowa. But he wouldn't be making the trip alone, Dolph Ziggler was going with him.
He had found out about Preston being in the hospital and when he found out Seth was getting "Family emergency" time and taking the plane to Iowa, he insisted on going along. Seth didn't mind, he liked Dolph just fine, but both men were tired. When the plane took off and they could unbuckle the seat belts, they each grabbed one of the comfortable sofas and flopped out, hoping to catch some much needed sleep on their way.
As much as his body needed sleep, craved sleep, Seth found his mind wouldn't let him sleep. Instead, in that horrible way minds have of messing with you, his insisted on playing a charming game of "What if." "What if you hadn't given Payton that phone?" "What if Payton had gone outside the apartment and onto the streets instead of calling you?" "What if that hadn't been Kayla at the door, but someone who had been casing the house and realized there was a young girl all alone in there?" And with each what if, his mind was also happy to supply the necessary visuals to the mental horror story. He kept seeing Payton bloodied and battered, or hiding in the bath tub, knees drawn up to her chest, arms wrapped around her knees and crying hysterically. Payton having to endure being alone and scared for hours, because of course in this little horror show, her father never came back to get Preston's pajamas and stuffed animal. Finally, Payton catatonic because her mind had snapped.
He finally sat up, realizing that sleep would not be his friend tonight. Well, at least I have a few days, he thought to himself. I should be able to get some serious sleep in that time. He heard a sigh and looked over at the couch Dolph was using. The man was lying on his back, a blanket provided by the private flight attendant covering him, but his eyes were open and he was staring at the ceiling as if it might have the answer to a particularly hard question he was pondering. "Are you okay?" Seth asked him.
"I'm worried," Dolph said, his voice slow, as if he was coming out of a self induced brain fog.
"About Preston?" Seth asked, more to keep the conversation going, of course it was Preston Dolph was worried about. The two had bonded in these last few months.
"Yeah." Dolph sat up, pushing the blanket to the end of the sofa, and swinging his legs around so he was sitting up. "The chemo isn't doing what they hoped. He had radiation treatments, but they almost killed him. The chemo is taking too much out of him and there's talk about stopping that, too."
"Then what happens?"
Dolph looked at him, eyes narrowing slightly. "They keep him comfortable and wait for the end." His voice was a flat, monotone, not as if this scenario meant nothing, but because it meant so much, he had to keep it out of his voice, least he have a break down.
Seth nodded, biting his lower lip. What do you say in these situations? he thought. "You two are pretty close, aren't you?" he finally said, figuring this was safe grounds. They were still talking about Preston, but Dolph didn't have to talk about the inevitable ending, fast approaching, unless he wanted to.
"We are." Dolph grinned, just the memory of the young boy making his face light up. "He's an amazing little guy."
"Yeah, I guess," Seth said, again biting his lower lip.
Dolph studied him and shook his head. "Yeah, I know, you and he don't get along very well, and that's too bad because you and his sister get along so well. But, you can't really blame Preston."
"I can't?" Seth struggled to keep his voice neutral.
"You freaked him out, well at least the in ring version of you, freaked him out." The blond yawned and stretched. Seth said nothing, thinking Dolph would continue, which, after a few moments, he did. "Remember when Shield broke up? He was in the hospital, watching with his family. I guess he'd fallen asleep and he woke up to see you deliver that chair right to the back of Roman, and then go after Dean. It really scared him."
"It's wrestling," Seth said, fighting the urge to roll his eyes. "We do that."
"He was five back then," Dolph reminded him. "And he was sick and he didn't really understand why he was sick, why this was happening to him. He'd woken up, probably from a bad dream and the first thing he sees is three guys who he knows are buddies until the end, and suddenly you turn on them. No warning, no nothing, you just turned on Roman and then Dean. And you were vicious." Dolph's smile was a wry one. "Don't get me wrong, it was beautiful what you did. It was one of the most dramatic moments in the history of RAW, but it freaked out Preston. They ended up having to sedate him because he was so upset."
"Oh," Seth said, feeling like he was obligated to say something, but not knowing what it should be. He wasn't going to apologize for doing his job, especially not to Dolph.
"Again, it was great television," Dolph assured him. "The chair shot heard 'round the world. But it did scare Preston badly. He's still in that stage where he thinks a lot of this is real. To him, you showed that you were totally unpredictable. That you could one minute be someone's best friend and the next, turn on them and try to hurt them."
Again, Seth found himself biting his lip and just saying, "Oh." He was doing a lot of lip biting tonight.
Dolph looked down where the flight attendant was sitting, reading a magazine. She was making a point to look in their direction every minute or so to make sure they didn't need anything, but other than that, she was leaving them alone. "Any chance I can get some coffee?" he called to her.
She closed the magazine and got to her feet. "Right away. Regular or decaf?"
"Regular," Dolph said with a yawn. "As strong as you can make it."
"Very good," she nodded and looked at Seth. "Can I get you anything, sir?'
"Coffee sounds good," Seth said. "Thank you."
She asked them how they took their coffee then disappeared into the little galley kitchen. When she was out of sight, Dolph yawned again. "I hope the caffeine does the trick," he admitted. "I'm still expected to be at the house show tonight."
"That's rough," Seth said, not mentioning that he had until Monday night's RAW off. He was sure Dolph knew about that, and he didn't want to rub it in.
Dolph shrugged. "I've handled worse. And I really want to see Preston. To tell him that we're all looking forward to seeing him at Wrestlemania. The kid has been so stoked for that, I think that might give him the incentive to hang in there a little longer." He shook his head, his hair falling about his face. "Of all the kids this could happen to, it had to happen to him. That kid..." his voice trailed off and Seth could hear the pain in his voice.
"There's no such thing as a kid who deserves this type of thing," Seth said firmly.
"Of course not!" Dolph quickly agreed. "And I'm not saying there is. But, Preston is lucky to be here at all and then this has to happen to him."
"What do you mean?"
Dolph rubbed his hand over his chin. "I don't know if I should tell you this or not, but, Myron and Andrea didn't tell me this like it was any great secret, and I know you won't blab it to the world, so what the hell. Myron had a twin brother who died when he was seven. Not of cancer, like Preston has, he rode his bike into the street and got hit by a car. But, Myron's world was pretty shattered. I mean, they had been together since their conception, it must have been brutal on the kid, to always have someone and then to have that person disappear."
Seth nodded, his mind wanting to chew this over, but wanting to hear the story, too.
"So, when he and Andrea were dating, engaged, whatever, they talked and agreed that their first child would be called Preston, after Myron's brother."
"They must have been shattered when Payton turned out to be a girl," Seth said, trying to keep his voice neutral, but knowing a little bit of sarcasm had slipped in. If Dolph had noticed he said nothing. The flight attendant appeared with the coffee and for a moment, no one spoke as they took the cups from her. When she was done serving coffee, she returned to her seat and Dolph continued.
"No, they weren't that upset," he said. "Yeah, I'm sure they were a little disappointed, but they were young and they figured the next one would be Preston. So, when Andrea found out she was pregnant again, they were thrilled, hoping this would be a boy."
"And it was," Seth filled in. "They got their Preston."
"Yeah, but that almost didn't happen either," Dolph said, taking a long gulp of his coffee and then holding the cup, both hands wrapped around it. "When Andrea was getting near the end of the first trimester, she took Payton outside to play. I guess it had snowed and like all kids, Payton wanted to check it out. So, they went outside to make a snowman. Payton was really young then, and I'm not sure how it happened, but there was ice on the driveway of the house they lived at. As they were heading back into the house, Payton slipped on the ice. She was holding onto her mother's hand and they both fell on the driveway, hard."
Seth's eyes widened, and even though his mind was filling in the blanks, he said nothing, but let Dolph confirm his suspicions with his words.
"She started bleeding. She almost had a miscarriage, but fortunately, they were able to save Preston," Dolph continued. "But it was pretty touch and go. I don't know if it was the near miscarriage, or other complications, but Andrea ended up spending most of that pregnancy on her back. So, when Preston was born and he seemed fine and healthy, they were thrilled."
"I'll bet," Seth said, but his mind was racing. Payton slipped, Payton was probably scared to be falling and clung to her mother, knocking them both on the ice. They may never say it out loud, they may never even think it in the front of their mind, but deep down, I'm betting part of them holds Payton responsible for Mom's near miscarriage. And it wouldn't surprise me at all, if even further down in their subconscious, they suspect that near miscarriage might have somehow done something that later triggered Preston's cancer.
"So, yeah, this is pretty rough on them," Dolph continued. "The first Preston died at age seven, the second one might not even make it to seven. And they're devoted to that kid."
"I've noticed," Seth said, and he was able to say it without a trace of sarcasm. He really couldn't fault the Caldwells for loving their son. However, he could and did fault them for putting blame on Payton. Yes, he was sure when the story of the icy driveway came out, whoever told Dolph about it, Myron or Andrea, probably never blamed Payton directly, but they made sure Dolph knew Payton had something to do with it. Accident or not, Dolph knew that if Payton hadn't been holding her mother's hand, Andrea never would have fallen. I'll bet Payton knows it too, he thought, Again, no one flat out blamed her, but they made sure she knew her part in the situation. If it had been me, I would have just said I slipped on the ice, never brought Pay's name into it, but yet Andrea made sure everyone knew she hadn't just fallen, she had been pulled off her feet, by Payton.
"But, Preston is a sweet kid when you get to know him," Dolph continued. "I know, you see him as a little bratty and even I can admit, they indulge him too much, but they know they aren't going to have him for very long. But, he's just got this spirit, you know? I mean, he's in a terrible situation. He's spent most of his life in and out of hospitals, they give him medicine and he thinks medicine is supposed to make you feel better, but instead it makes him sick. But he still manages to smile, he still manages to keep optimistic, he still laughs and jokes around..." Dolph's voice trailed off and Seth saw his eyes begin to shine with tears. He didn't shed them, but he did wipe the sleeve of his shirt across them. "He says he's going to be a wrestler," Dolph continued, voice cracking slightly. "All of this going on, and part of him still holds out hope that he'll grow up and become a professional wrestler. How optimistic is that?"
Seth had no clue what to say to that. Fortunately, the flight attendant interrupted then to tell them that they were getting ready to land and that they needed to go to seats where they could buckle in. That ended the conversation.
When the plane landed, Seth called Kayla, who told him she and Payton were still at home so he should come there. Dolph rented a car and agreed to drop Seth off at home.
Dolph was quiet on the ride over to Seth's house, which Seth was grateful for. He needed the time to think, to process the conversation he had with Dolph. How do I help Payton deal with this? he thought, looking out the window at the passing scenery, looking but not really seeing it. This is a mess. I don't want Payton living with people who consciously or subconsciously blame her for something that happened when she was a toddler, but now is not the time for this, not with Preston dying. But when will be the right time? Will her folks realize once Preston is gone, that she's all they've got? Or will they just blame her more for Preston's death?
End of Part Ten
Special Thanks To:
Guest I: Wow, thank you for all your comments on all the chapters! I really appreciate it. I would have understood if you'd read all nine chapters then left one review, but you left one for every chapter and I'm grateful.
Zipper: Mmmm... cheddar cheese! Of course I caught the name. No one but a Coop fan would use that expression. :-D And, with you knowing "C." it just makes sense. Yeah, the Caldwells are not up for Parent of the Year, sad to say. And now, after this chapter, it become a little clearer why they resent their daughter. No, I'm not saying this excuses them, nothing was her fault, but it does make things even more complicated.
Emilee: Yep, The Caldwells need to be choked. But, things are more complicated than it seems, as you can see. And this chapter kinda muddied the waters even further.
Kina: Yep, Kayla is a strong, female role model for Payton and she needs that.
Holly: You're right, unless they have an alternative person they would like Payton to stay with, which we find out in this chapter they don't, they really couldn't argue with Kayla. One call to the cops and this would become a huge mess, Payton would be removed from the house for at least 48 hours and they might not allow Preston to see his folks in that time either. And you bet the Caldwells know that, too. And now with this chapter we have a little more understanding why Payton isn't the favorite child and why Preston is. It's not fair to Payton, she doesn't deserve it, but at least we all know why it seems to be happening.
Guest II: Thank you, I'm glad you like the story! Yes a sick child is a burden, but you don't neglect the other one. However, as you see in this chapter, we find out a bit about why the Caldwells might be pushing Payton off to the side. It doesn't make it right, of course, but at least we know a little bit of the why.
To all Guest Reviewers: Thank you so much for your reviews! I didn't want to type over and over again, "Thanks for the review" so I'll just leave it here. I really appreciate that you took the time to let me know you liked the story.
Author's Notes: I saw the number of reviews, faves and follows and I cried. (the good kind of crying) I know that sound sappy and weak, but honestly, I never expected this story to strike such a strong chord in people and it means so much to me that so many of you have taken the time to let me know with every chapter how you feel about this story.
I wish I had the words to let you know how grateful I am, but I have to settle for just saying thank you, thank you so much. And keep them coming. Again, every time work climbs up my butt and the temptation is to just slough off this story, thinking of how all of you folks took the effort to let me know what you thought, motivates me to keep going. So, thank you again. All of you who favored/followed and especially those of you who reviewed, you can take credit for this story too. You're the ones keeping it going.
Until Next time
Peace Out
Willow.