By the time Jessica made her way back into the hotel, the clock had registered 3:25 am.
The lobby was entirely empty, save for a few members of the staff and the occasional night owl. While she didn't check, she was pretty sure that the ballroom that had once housed the WWE's New Year's Party was deserted, as well.
But she didn't really care. None of that mattered now. The only thing that mattered was the fact that there was a man somewhere in that building she needed to find because she had a lot to say.
The petite woman in a black blazer at the front desk glanced up from her computer as Jessica approached. "Good evening, Ms. McMahon. How may I help you?"
"Hi," Jessica addressed her politely. "I need to know what room a member of the company is staying in."
The dark-haired woman nodded and began typing on her keyboard. "Of course, Ms. McMahon. Which room assignment are you looking for?"
Jessica's hazel eyes flitted around the room and she leaned forward.
"John Cena," she replied in a whisper.
She smiled and typed the eight letters into her database. "Room 321, Ms. McMahon. Would you like me to ring him for you?"
The blonde shook her head, causing her curls to sway back and forth. "No, thank you. I'm going to go see him first thing tomorrow. Have a good night."
"Thank you, Ms. McMahon… and if I may speak boldly…" she bent towards her and lowered her voice. "Go get 'em."
A smile played on the corner of her lips as she nodded in gratitude, turned around, and headed towards the parking lot once more.
The sun had long since traveled over the horizon of the Sunshine State as Jessica pulled into the long, paved driveway.
Sadly, she hadn't been to this house since September, but that was all about to change.
The blonde pushed open the driver's side door and exited the Super Bee. After closing the door, she couldn't help but smile at the fact that the car looked so at home in the driveway. It was though it belonged there.
It was as though she belonged there.
Fumbling with the keys in her hands, she strode to the door and silently prayed that John hadn't changed the locks or the security system keycode.
Today was not a day that she needed to spend explaining to the police why she couldn't remember the code to her fiancé's house, nor was it a day that she felt like pulling the "Don't you know who I am" card."
With her well-manicured hand, she pushed open the unlocked door and immediately heard the beep of the warning alarm.
4-2-3-7
"System disarmed," it stated in its electronic voice.
Jessica kicked the door lightly with the back of her foot, causing it to shut with a click.
As soon as it closed, she made her way up the stairs and went right for the bedroom.
Immediately, nostalgia set in and she froze.
The room hadn't changed a bit. In fact, she suspected that John had hired a cleaning person to take care of tidying the house, since he was incapable of doing that when his fiancée wasn't around.
Her hazel eyes scanned the room and landed on her open closet. It was still full of her things, exactly as it had been the day John had told her to leave.
Slowly, Jessica crossed the room and took a step into the closet.
Thankfully, the cardboard box she had planned on showing him the night she left was still tucked away in the corner.
Driving along the Florida Turnpike, Jessica reached up and tapped the Bluetooth headset on her ear. "Preston, I am so sorry."
"Oh, Honey, are you okay?" he asked her concernedly. "I haven't heard from you in months and I can't trust those tabloids to tell me the truth…"
"The wedding's still on, Preston," she told him, smiling to herself.
He sighed in relief. "Oh, thank God. I've moved ahead with some of the planning while waiting for you to return my call. I've been playing around with some table settings. How do you feel about lilies?"
Jessica laughed, genuinely happy for the first time in days. "I love lilies."
"Good, good. You have to come in very soon. We have to discuss your bouquet and your bridesmaids' bouquets. Oh! And their dresses… and your dress! Oh my God, you haven't even gone dress shopping yet!"
A grin spread from ear to ear.
MY dress.
"I'll get John and I out of our obligations for house shows for the next couple of weeks," she replied brightly. "I know that I kind of screwed you over the last four months, Preston, and believe me, while it wasn't by choice, I'm going to spend the next six months wedding planning."
Immediately, Jessica could hear him turning pages in his office. "Okay, I'm going to block out a few days each week on my calendar. We have a lot of work to do. Dresses, favors, photography, videography, and then all of the floral work on my end. We've got to go to Oheka, Jess. We have to let them know where we're getting the cake from, where we are going to have the ceremony, how many guests…" he trailed off, furiously scribbling in his binder. "Oh! Guests… the invitations!"
Jessica briefly glanced in her rear-view mirror and nodded. "I've got that taken care of."
321.
The number on the door was staring her straight in the face, but it was hard to believe that she was there, that she was ready to make her decision.
One last time, she smoothed down her jeans and the black halter that covered the upper half of her body.
It's now or never, Jessica.
With an unsteady hand, the blonde Diva reached up and rapped sharply on the door three times.
On the other side of the door, there was a lot of rustling going on, with the occasional curse word thrown in. It seemed like this
Finally, the door opened.
"Jessica?" John asked her in surprise from the doorway. "What are you doing here?"
She ignored his question and instead, asked one of her own, "Do you have your key on you?"
He nodded. "In my pocket, why?
"Come on," she ordered him, a slight smile on her lips as she grabbed onto his hand and pulled him out of the room.
"Wait, let me shut my door!" he protested, pulling the door shut with whatever leeway she gave him. "Jess, where are we going?"
"To the car," Jessica replied as they walked down the hallway, her arm still locked around his wrist.
His eyebrows raised at her as they approached the elevator. "We have to be at the arena in two hours."
"I promise," she turned to face him as the elevator doors opened. "I just need your help for a little while, but I will make sure we get to the show on time."
He sighed and walked ahead of her into the elevator. "Fine, but if we're late, you get to vouch to your dad for me."
"Deal."
"I'll carry the box, you carry the printer."
"Why do I get to carry the heavier thing?" John pouted as Jessica pulled the cardboard cube out of the trunk.
Jessica rolled her eyes. "Would you rather walk into the lobby in front of all of the other wrestlers, carrying a box?"
Wordlessly, the Massachusetts-native scooped up the laser color printer into his arms.
Internally, Jessica was laughing hysterically.
Leave it to him to be oblivious to the fact that this is HIS printer.
"We're bringing this to your room?" he asked, backing against the door to open it for them.
She nodded and they continued towards the elevator. "I'm at the other end of the hall, same floor as you."
John pushed the edge of the printer against the elevator call button. "So you have an even number, then?"
"Yeah, 304," she answered him simply as the doors opened and they stepped inside.
"Cool."
That's all he has to say?
"So… there's been a change to your program with K-Fed tonight."
His head whipped to his right. "There has?"
"Stephanie was discussing it with me before, but I was in the card, so I wasn't really paying attention," she laughed innocently. "She'll probably fill you in when you get to the arena."
"I cannot believe I have to lose to him!" John exclaimed as the elevator opened to their floor. "It's not even believable, Jess. I can break him with one hand… like a toothpick! And I have to lose."
"It's not that big of a deal…" she assured him, turning right and walking towards her door. "Obviously, it's not a clean finish."
John leaned his right arm against the wall as he kept the printer in his grasp. "Clean finish or not, it's still Orton's fault."
Jessica rolled her eyes as she pushed open the door. "I thought you were over that."
"I am!" he replied defiantly, following her through and placing the machine on her table. "It doesn't change the fact that it sucks."
"Well," she sighed as she put the cardboard box down on the bed. "At the very least, there's something we can do to take your mind off of it. Can you do me a favor and connect the printer wires? I'll hook up my laptop."
"Sure," he agreed and began to sort through the cables. "Would you mind telling me what we're doing with all of this crap?"
Gingerly, she placed her Macbook down beside the printer. "This is not crap! This is very important!"
He smirked at her challengingly. "So important that you can't tell me?"
Jessica began typing away at her computer as she retorted, "So important that I'm ignoring your stupidity in order to work it all out."
"What exactly are you doing?" John asked curiously, handing her the USB cable to hook up to her laptop.
She took it from his hands and plugged it in. "I am using an Excel document to do a mass printing. Do you like this calligraphy font?"
John peered over the screen and nodded. "Yes, very professional. What's it for?"
"You'll see," she smirked like a Cheshire cat and brushed a strand of caramel-colored hair out of her eyes.
He watched as she straightened back up and headed over to the cardboard box, opening it and retrieving a massive amount of envelopes from inside.
Her hazel eyes flickered up at him as she balanced all of the paper in her arms. "Can you open the tray for me?"
John did as he was asked and Jessica carefully loaded them into the printer tray, then shut it.
"We're going to test out the first one," she informed him, typing for a moment and then clicking her mouse.
The printer fired up and soon, one of the printed envelopes were ejected into the top tray. His interest piqued, John picked it up.
Mr. John J. Cena
2324 Castle Court
West Newbury, MA 01985
"Jess?" his eyebrows furrowed as he looked over at her with confused blue eyes. "Why are you sending a letter to my dad?"
Jessica rolled her eyes at him as he continued to stare at the address, proceeding to start the print of her entire address list. "It's not a letter, John. It's our wedding invitation."
"Oh…" he nodded slowly and then his head shot up. "Our what?"
A slow grin spread across her porcelain face. "Our wedding invitation, John."
The envelope slipped through his large fingers and fell to the ground. "Our wedding?"
"Yes," the blonde bobbed her head in response, laughing at his shock. "Our wed-"
But before she could get the words out of her mouth again, John's lips were already on hers, kissing her fervently.
After a little while his fiancée pulled away, pressing her hand against him gently. "I need to breathe. Don't kill me before I even get to walk down the aisle."
His azure eyes sparkled and he grinned at her brightly. "I'm just… I'm just really happy, Jess. What made you decide?"
"Aside from this huge rock on my left hand?" Jessica joked sarcastically and held up her hand for effect, but then turned sincere. "Dwayne is my past, John. He temporarily filled the hole in my life that you had created when you left, but he never filled the hole in my heart. Only you could do that. And now, it's gone again."
John placed a finger under her chin and tilted it up towards him. Then he kissed her gently. "Forever."
She snaked her arms around his neck and sighed in content. "I like the sound of that."
"You know what else I like the sound of?" John slipped his own arms around her waist as the printer continued working its way through the task.
The Diva chewed her lower lip. "What?"
"Jessica McMahon-Cena."
John and Kevin circled each other in the ring for about five minutes.
It was then that Federline decided to take off his boxing robe, with some coaching from Johnny Nitro, and the ref signaled for the bell.
Mocking K-Fed, John offered off a free headlock, which he locked in. However, John picked the smaller man up and dropped him back to his feet on the mat.
Impatiently, John waited as Kevin returned to Nitro in the corner for some more advice.
The "Cena" chants began coursing through the arena as his opponent walked back to the ring and Nitro tossed a chair into the ring.
With a roll of the eyes, John sat in the chair propped up in the center of the ring and held his arms up, allowing Federline to try a Masterlock.
Quickly losing his composure, John broke it and pushed Kevin back towards the corner.
Ditching his headgear and gloves, Kevin held his hand up for a strength test. Once again, Cena humored him and when he tried to lock in an armbreaker on the mat, the wrestler lifted him up with one arm and sat him on the turnbuckle nearest the ramp.
As he sat on the corner, Nitro entered the ring and John promptly clotheslined him, kicking him well out of the ring.
In turning his back on Federline, John left himself susceptible to a low blow, which the rapper landed with a kick. The mistake the amateur made, however, was taunting his opponent.
With a scowl, John hoisted Kevin onto his shoulders, preparing for the FU.
But as he turned around, he was met by Umaga, his opponent at the upcoming pay-per-view, and his manager, Armando Alejandro Estrada.
With massive right hands, he smashed him in the face and chased the referee out of the ring when he tried to intervene.
But it was legal and there was nothing he could do.
With a menacing glare in his eye, Umaga held up the championship belt and ran it into the face of the WWE Champion, leering over him as he lay unconscious on the floor.
Directed by Estrada, Umaga backed out of the ring, allowing Federline to return to the ring and lay on top of John for the three count.
As Federline and Nitro taunted his unconscious form in the ring, and Umaga hung around the outside, the crowd suddenly erupted.
Catching sight of the young woman rushing down the ramp, Umaga and Estrada quickly bailed out through the crowd, leaving Johnny Nitro and Kevin Federline in the center of the ring to fend for themselves.
Being the more experienced of the pair, Nitro stood in front of Federline as Jessica McMahon slid between the mat and the bottom rope.
In a pair of destroyed jeans and a black tank with the word "Rebel" emblazoned across it in red Old English text, the blonde hopped to her feet and stared up at Johnny viciously.
The taller man rolled his eyes at her and began to walk away, but she caught a hold of his arm and pulled him back to face her, a mic in her hand. Moments later, Nitro had retrieved one of his own.
"What do you want, Jessica?" the long-haired wrestler asked in exasperation.
Her hazel eyes glared up at him. "Watch your damn mouth, Nitro."
"Come on, McMahon!" he laughed, Federline joining in with him. "What are you going to do? Discipline me? Fire me? I'm sure your father would be thrilled with that. You can't do anything to me, Jessica. You can't touch me OR Federline."
Jessica clenched her jaw and tightened her grip on the microphone. "Take it back."
"No."
She took a step forward. "I said… take it back."
Nitro advanced a step, as well. "And I said… no."
"Fine," she replied with a nonchalant nod. "Then you first."
The microphone slipped through her fingers and cracked against the mat beneath them. Out of nowhere, she reared back and socked Nitro in the face, knocking him to the floor.
Wasting no time whatsoever, Jessica ran towards the ropes and bounded off, landing a moonsault on top of him. She bounced onto her heels once again and yelled down to him, "Not so tough now, are you, Nitro?"
With a smirk, she stood directly in front of him and threw herself backwards, landing his own move, a standing shooting star press, right on top of his body.
As she got to her feet once more, Jessica turned her attention to Kevin Federline in the corner of the ring.
Locking her eyes on him, she ran towards him in the corner and as he began to cower, stopped directly in front of him.
Laughing she backed away, luring him forward. As soon as his guard was down, she bent low, slowly undoing the latch on the back of her belt.
Federline turned around… and ran right into Jessica's title belt.
When she was sure that both men were out cold, Jessica dropped to her knees beside John and began to talk to him, checking to make sure he was okay.
"I think we killed it," she whispered to him, still feigning concern.
"No, baby," he corrected her softly, his eyes still closed. "You killed it."
"Jessica!" a shrill voice caught her attention and caused her to pick up her pace. "Jessica Juliette McMahon, don't you walk away from me!"
John snickered next to her. "Busted."
"Future sister-in-law," she replied softly in a sing-song voice as she turned around.
"You should have told me you were changing the plans! I head Creative!" Stephanie complained, tapping a foot at her expectantly.
Jessica shrugged. "I didn't want to leak it. Bet I singlehandedly cause the ratings to spike next week."
"They did go ballistic out there," her sister admitted begrudgingly. "I will give you that. Listen, I've got to run… but does this mean the wedding's back on?"
John glanced over at his fiancée and brought the back of her hand to his lips. "Yes, the wedding is back on. Now if you'll excuse us, we have wedding invitations to stuff back in the room."
"That's the last one!" John announced to his fiancée, placing the last stamp on an envelope addressed to one of his brothers.
Jessica glanced around, impressed by their task. "First thing tomorrow, we'll drop them off at the post office."
He tossed the sealed envelope into the nearly-teeming cardboard box, effectively clearing off everything but the table. "You sure you want to do that first thing?"
The blonde Diva standing before him smirked knowingly. "Hmm… do you have any better ideas?"
John rose to his feet and pressed his lips against hers. "I have some…"
"Me too," she replied, running a finger along the outlines of his pecs. "But most of mine involve you shirtless."
Not missing a beat, John stripped off his black tee shirt and tossed it on a chair. "How's this?
The 5'7" woman allowed the left corner of her lip to pull upwards and pushed him lightly back onto the bed. "It's a start."
A/N: This fun/flirty/sexy/emotional chapter was in honor of review number FOUR HUNDRED! I can't f-ing believe it! You guys are awesome!
I'm sorry that I didn't post sooner, but I was on vacation and enjoying the Floridian sun way too much. And then, oh yeah... there was this little thing called the World Baseball Classic I attended. Front row, behind home plate. Yeah. That. I love me some David Wright. Shameless plug:
Anyhoo... I hope you enjoy this chapter. With two papers due tomorrow, I cannot do my normal shout outs. However, I WILL do a double dose of shout-outs during my next chapter to make up for it!
There's going to be a new poll up starting up after the next update and I'll probably be able to tell you She's a Rebel IV's subtitle. I think.
Rock on, Rebels!
Danielle