HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE! As my gift to you, a kinda-sorta long chapter! Yay! I'm sorry I haven't been very active these past months, but I'm back and I'm not going ANYWHERE! My New Year's Resolution to you all is this: Finish Pinky Promise! We're almost there _ ! Anyway, I love you guys, and ENJOY!
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Pinky Promise
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Chapter 32: Surprise
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Randy Orton pushed the shopping cart down one of the isles of the store, ignoring the stares that the other shoppers were giving him. "Hey, thanks for coming with me, man," he said just loud enough for only his friend to hear.
"No prob," John Cena replied, checking the items on the shelves. "So what exactly are we looking for?"
As soon as the WWE found themselves back in Southern California, Samantha had asked a huge favor of Randy. "Baby stuff," Randy simply answered as they continued to stroll the isles of the large Babies R Us. "Sam's gonna throw a baby shower for our friend, so she's making a big deal. She wants me to pick out nice stuff." He said the last two words in a mock-Samantha voice.
"Ah, gotcha," John said, nodding. "Anything specific?"
"Diapers, bottles, clothes, toys…" Randy trailed. He stopped walking once they reached the isle full of boxes of diapers. He reached for the nearest box and dumped it into the shopping cart.
"Dude, what are you doing?" John raised an eyebrow at him.
Randy shrugged. "She said to get diapers, so I got diapers," he said in a duh kind of tone.
John chuckled and shook his head. "Did you even check to see if you got the right size?" He pointed at the box, where a large 3 graced the corner. "Look, that's too big." He proceeded to put the box back and grabbed another diaper box, this time with a large N on it.
"What does the N stand for?" Randy asked, confused.
"What do you think it stands for?" John replied sarcastically. When the younger man shrugged, John simply laughed. "It stands for newborn, bro. Educate yourself," he teased.
"Shut up," Randy glared. "How the hell do you know all of this stuff anyway?"
"I got nieces and nephews," John answered. "And you know.." He trailed. "I was planning to have kids of my own too…but that didn't happen," he said the last part under his breath.
"You mean… with Bianca…?" Randy asked carefully as he tried to play dumb again.
"Yeah…" He sighed sadly. "Forget it," he said, removing his cap to run a hand over his scalp. "Come on, what else do we need? Bottles? Let's go get some bottles…"
With the way John was acting, Randy knew he hit a sensitive topic. He hurried after John with the shopping cart. Randy remained silent and watched as John walked through the isles, grabbing things, examining them, and putting them back on the shelves or into the cart.
After a while, John had led them to the clothing section. "She's having a girl, right?" John asked, as he motioned towards the girly clothes.
"Yeah," Randy stepped away from the cart and started to browse the selection. It was awkwardly silent between the two men, and it was starting to get to the Legend Killer. "Hey, man, sorry," he finally said.
John looked up from where he was browsing. "For what?"
Randy shrugged. "You know," he started, "for bringing her up. I didn't mean to get you all upset.."
John only shook his head. "Don't worry about it, dude."
Randy observed the sad look in John's eyes as the latter continued to search through the racks of baby clothes. "You miss her?"
"Honestly?" There was a weary look in John's eyes. He waited for Randy to nod before continuing. "Every day," he whispered. "Every single day." John shook his head, as if to snap himself out of thoughts of her. "It fucking sucks," he admitted.
Randy resisted the urge to smile. If only John knew how easy it would be to be with Bianca again. "Why don't you talk to her?" He suggested.
"And say what? 'Hey Binx, I know I kicked you out, but I realized that I still love you, so can we please work something out?" John looked to his friend for answers.
Randy shrugged. "I'd be a little more sincere, but yeah. Just talk to her. What's the worse that could happen?"
John raised an eyebrow at him. "The worse that could happen is that she may never want anything to do with me ever again!" It was now his turn to use the duh tone.
"Heh," Randy let a chuckle slip; he was amused at John's behavior. "Trust me," he continued in a more serious tone. "That's not going to happen. Just talk to her."
"How are you so sure?" John looked at him skeptically, almost hopeful.
At this point, Randy allowed himself to admit one thing. He owed it to John and Bianca now that he knew how John felt. "Sam and Bianca are best friends, you know?" He shrugged. "They still talk," he said as if it wasn't a big deal.
John felt something strange just then–butterflies. "Really?" He asked, hope showing fully in his face now. "How is she? Has she said anything about me?"
As much as Randy wanted to answer John's questions, he couldn't. "She's fine," he said quickly. "But you really need to talk to her, bro. And soon. You guys have a lot of…stuff…you need to sort out." And that was all Randy was going to say.
Thankfully, that was all Randy needed to say. The urgency in his voice was enough to build confidence in John, and for the first time in a long time, John let out a genuine smile. "Alright," he nodded fervently. "I will."
John's demeanor from then on was more uplifted as the two wrestlers continued searching through the baby clothes. "Here you go," John said, displaying two sets of clothes to Randy. The first was a set of onesies that were girly themed—yellow and pink flowers, honey bees, and smiling suns. The second was a set of onesies that were safari themed—cute tigers, lions, giraffes, zebras, frogs, owls, etc decorated the fabric.
Randy smiled. "Cute," he simply answered, reaching for both sets and putting them into the shopping cart.
"You should throw them in a bag and write 'Congratulations, from John Cena'," the shorter man grinned. He was definitely in a better mood than before. "I bet she'd like that," he said, referring to Randy and Sam's friend.
"Sure thing," Randy smirked. He knew Bianca would be in for a pleasant surprise.
…..
Bianca waited in her living room, glancing at the clock on the wall every now and then. What is taking them so long? Her final doctor's appointment was in half an hour and no one had come down yet.
It had been three months since Bianca's last visit, and her baby bump was as big as ever—she was due in a few weeks after all. But John still didn't know.
As adamant as Bianca was to keep this a secret from John, her stubbornness was starting to waiver after what Randy had told her just the other day. "He misses you," Randy's voice repeated in her head. "He wants to talk to you but he's afraid you'll reject him."
Bianca smiled sadly as she ran a hand over her tummy, feeling her baby kick softly. I want to talk to you too, John, she thought, but how am I going to tell you about our baby..?
Before she could think of an answer, her thoughts were disrupted by loud footsteps coming from the stairwell. As if on cue, both her parents descended the stairs with loud coughing noises behind them. The coughing was coming from Samantha, who was still dressed in her pajamas and not looking her best. Randy followed behind her at a safe distance.
Bianca frowned in worry, her motherly instincts kicking in as she headed past her parents and towards her friend and reached a hand out to feel her forehead. "Sam, you don't look too good. Are you feeling okay?"
Samantha shook her head and stuck an arm out to stop her before she could get close. "I think I'm coming down with something," she said. "I don't want you or the baby to get sick."
"Oh no," Bianca said, generally worried for her friend. "Have you been taking meds? Do you need to go see a doctor?"
"Yes, and no," Sam answered both questions. "Randy's gonna try and take care of me…"
"Try," Randy emphasized, and the Evans chuckled.
"You should get some rest, Samantha," Vivian suggested, and Bianca nodded in agreement.
"I will," Sam confirmed. "And I'm sorry I can't make it to your appointment today. I know it was your last one," she pouted sadly.
Bianca shrugged. "It's okay," she said sincerely. "It's just a check-up. No biggie."
"Are you sure?" Sam asked, and Bianca nodded.
"We'll be back later," Bianca said as she and her parents headed for the door. "I hope you feel better," she told Sam. "And take care of her, Randy," she said before closing the door behind her.
"Yes, ma'am!" Randy called out, although they were already outside.
The couple walked slowly towards the window and watched as the Evans pulled out of the driveway and drove off. Randy snorted and shook his head. "I can't believe she fell for that," he glanced down at his fiancée. "You don't even sound sick."
A devilish grin appeared on Samantha's face. "It doesn't matter. Didn't I tell you her mama instincts were gonna kick in?"
Randy sighed. "I guess," he said, not wanting to admit defeat.
"Come on," Sam said, grabbing his hand and leading him towards the kitchen. "We have a lot of stuff to do before she gets back."
…..
Bianca lay back on the patient's chair, twiddling her thumbs as she waited for the doctor to come into the room, while Vivian was happily flipping through a parenting magazine that was left on one of the seats. Larry had opted to wait out in the waiting room. It didn't take long for Dr. Gene to come into the room, and everyone was all smiles.
"Hello, and how is everyone doing today?" Dr. Gene asked, clipboard in hand and stethoscope around her neck.
"We're all doing fine," Bianca responded. "Excited as usual," she giggled softly.
"I bet. Almost there, huh?" Dr. Gene grinned as she motioned towards Bianca's ever-growing tummy. She positioned the stethoscope to her ears and held the diaphragm towards Bianca's torso. "Let's see…" She had Bianca inhale and exhale a few times while she checked her breathing and heartbeat.
"Sounds good," Dr. Gene wrote a few notes onto her clipboard. "Now let's check the baby," she said, placing the diaphragm on Bianca's exposed stomach. Bianca lay there quietly, watching as the doctor listened for the baby's heartbeat. After a minute, Dr. Gene pulled the stethoscope away and said, "good," while she wrote more notes onto her clipboard.
Dr. Gene stepped away and gave Bianca an upbeat smile. "Are you ready for your last ultrasound?" Bianca only nodded her head excitedly, and Dr. Gene laughed, pulling the machine towards her.
Like many times before, Dr. Gene applied the clear jelly onto Bianca's tummy before tracing it with the transducer. "There we go," she said as soon as the baby's image appeared on the screen. She checked all the information that the transducer was giving her about the baby before jotting down more notes. "Everything looks good!"
Bianca pulled her shirt over her tummy as Dr. Gene removed her gloves and disposed of it. "At this point," Dr. Gene started, "all we're waiting for is a contraction."
"Can't wait…" Bianca said sarcastically. From what she heard, contractions were excruciating. She shuddered at the thought.
"And you have my office number as well as my personal number in case of an emergency, right?" Dr. Gene asked as she helped Bianca down from the patient's chair.
"Of course, doc," Bianca grinned. "I will give you a call as soon as I feel pain," she joked.
"Looking forward to it," Dr. Gene joked back and escorted Bianca and Vivian out of the room. "Take care of yourself until then!"
…..
"So, John, what do you think?" John sat at the end of a long table, adjacent to Vince McMahon, Stephanie McMahon, and a guy simply known as 'Rob', who was the lead in the design department.
John held the material in his hands, looking over the design of one of his newest WWE merchandise. He was more than pleasantly surprised—he was ecstatic. "This is…." He paused to find the right word, "amazing."
It was a white football jersey customized specifically for his image. The number 54 graced the front in green camouflage, and he couldn't help but to grin—it was the number he wore when he played college football. Right above the number had the words CHAINGANG, and the sleeves displayed the number 54 and the chain gang logo. The back of the jersey also had 54 on it and CENA printed above in big bold letters.
"I love it," he said, not able to take his eyes off of it. "Whoever designed this did a really good job.. it's like they know me.." As soon as John said that, Vince and Stephanie gave each other knowing looks. "Did you design this?" John directed the question to Rob, who simply shook his head. "Then who did? This is great.." He said again, marveling at the jersey.
"It's like you said, John," Vince started. "It's someone who knows you." John frowned in thought, trying to think of who it could be. "You know, someone with really good graphic design skills…" Vince trailed off, and the three watched as slow realization hit.
"Binx…" He whispered to himself. "Bianca…designed this?" He asked aloud to the three on the other side of the table. "When—How—" he was at a loss for words.
"She's been one of our top graphic designers for some months now," Vince explained. "She's the one who's been designing everyone's shirts this year." The look of surprise never left John's face and Vince shook his head, going into father-mode. "You kids really need to start communicating with each other," he lectured. "I mean, what's going to happen when the baby comes? How do you expect to—" Vince was immediately cut off by Stephanie stomping on his foot and giving him a death glare.
"Wait, what?" John asked, as Vince's words registered into his head.
"Nothing," Vince quickly said, wincing at the pain on his foot. "Never mind." He hoped John hadn't caught on to his words, but he did.
"No, you said 'when the baby comes'. What baby?" John asked.
"Would you look at the time, I have another meeting to go to," Vince said, obviously avoiding John's question and trying to escape the room. Before he could walk away, however, Stephanie had grabbed his arm and yanked him back down into his seat. Vince sat there with a frown on his face, a pout on his lips, and his arms crossed–like a child who just got sent into time-out.
John turned to face Stephanie. "Steph…?" He asked, his eyes silently hoping that she would tell him what was going on.
Stephanie inwardly groaned. She knew Bianca didn't want John to find out this way, but she was cornered. "Umm.. Surprise..?"
…..
Bianca gazed out the window of her father's SUV as the Evans headed back to their home. "Wow, where did all of these cars come from?" Bianca remarked as they pulled onto their street that had magically seemed to populate while they were gone. When Larry pulled up to their house, however, it was completely normal. Bianca shrugged it off as she slid out of the vehicle and headed towards the house.
"Aren't you guys coming?" Bianca turned and asked; her parents hadn't budged from their place in the SUV.
"I dropped an earring in here," Vivian quickly explained to her daughter and gave her a sheepish look. "Your father is helping me look for it. Go on ahead, honey. We'll be right in."
Bianca paused to think for a moment, not able to remember if her mother had been wearing earrings or not. She shrugged the thought away and headed towards the door. As soon as Bianca opened the door, she was greeted with a loud "SURPRISE!" coming from all the people in the house.
Bianca gasped in shock at the many familiar faces surrounding the room. She marveled at the pink and lavender decorations and the large banner that read, "It's A Girl!". "Did you do this?" Bianca immediately rushed towards Samantha, already knowing the answer to her own question, and engulfed her in a hug.
Samantha gave a few obviously fake coughs before giving Bianca a sly grin. "You're too gullible," she teased. "So, do you like it?" She motioned her hand across the room.
"Love it!" Bianca replied excitedly as she gave Sam and Randy both hugs. She proceeded to greet everyone else in the room, which consisted of family, old friends, and even.. "Amy! Adam!" Bianca embraced both of them. "I can't believe you guys are here!"
"Girl, do you think we would miss this?" Amy stepped back just enough to place her hand on Bianca's tummy. "I can't believe how big you are! And I mean that in a good way," she added the last part quickly, but Bianca waved it off.
"Any day now," Bianca patted her bump.
"That's exciting," Adam beamed. "But.." he started in a serious tone. "When are you going to tell John?"
Bianca opened her mouth to answer, but before she could, the sliding door to the back yard slid open and a voice called out, "lunch is ready!"
Bianca's eyes widened at the sound of that voice. "Th-they're here?" She asked in disbelief.
"Yup," Bianca turned around to see her dad and her mom standing in the doorway with bright smiles. "We flew them down all the way from Massachusetts just to be here." Bianca hugged both of her parents and whispered a soft thank you. Larry only chuckled, happy to see his daughter happy. "What are you doing here? Go say hi to them!"
Bianca pulled away, nodded, and immediately headed towards the back yard, Randy and Sam, and Amy and Adam following suit. As soon as she reached the yard, the couple at the grill turned to her and smiled widely.
"There you are! Congratulations, honey! We're so happy!" Bianca could only stand in disbelief as John Sr and Carol Cena wrapped their arms around her.
Tears filled Bianca's eyes. "I can't believe you guys are actually here!" She raised a hand up to wipe the tears before they fell.
"We wouldn't have missed this for the world, kiddo!" John Sr said, ruffling her hair.
"And just so you know," Carol said, pulling Bianca close, "regardless of what happened in the past, and whatever will happen in the future, you will always be our daughter, and she will always be our granddaughter," the older woman placed her hand over Bianca's bump, who in turn placed her hand over hers.
"Thanks, mom," Bianca whispered with more tears flowing down her face. "That means a lot." Bianca gave her in-laws another big hug and still had enough time to pull herself together before everyone from inside the house made their way out into the yard to grab their share of lunch.
Samantha had dubbed herself the impromptu emcee for the day, and as soon as lunch was over, the games had begun. There were guessing games, like guessing the amount of candy in the baby bottle-shaped coin bank, and guessing the melted chocolate bars that resembled poop in individual diapers.
There were also written games, like 'How Well Do You Know Mommy-to-Be' (which was put together by Vivian), a Word Scramble featuring baby-related items, and a Matching game where a list of animals had to be matched to their babies' names.
And then came the presents. As Bianca opened them up one by one, she was pleasantly surprised to find that she had received the necessities for raising a baby—diapers of various sizes, baby wipes, formula milk, bottles, bottle cleaners, clothes, bibs, toys, lots of things. She was set to have this baby.
After the presents came more mingling and snacking. Bianca made sure to give a speech before anyone could leave. "Thank you, everyone, for coming today!" She called out. "And a big thanks especially goes to my parents, Sam, and Randy for planning this and pulling it off without me finding out," she laughed at the last part. "I am truly grateful.."
Bianca wasn't allowed to help clean up after the party; so instead, she focused her efforts on bidding her guests farewell as they left the house. Once all had left and the place was spotless, Bianca, her parents, Sam, and Randy made their way back into the house.
"Bianca.." her parents called her suddenly, and she turned to look at them in question. "As you may have noticed, you didn't open a present from us at the party. That's because our gift to you is not just something that you can unwrap.."
The confused look never left Bianca's face. "O-okay…?"
"Follow us," Larry grinned and Vivian beamed as they led the way up the stairs. They passed Bianca's bedroom door and stopped at one of the unused guest rooms. "Now, Bianca, if you could do the honor…" Larry motioned towards the doorknob.
A smile crept across Bianca's face as she already had an inkling of what her parents had done. As she turned the knob of the door and stepped in, a gasp escaped her lips. The room had been transformed into a nursery. Although the bed was still there, the walls were now painted a soft yellow color, and a few new additions were added to the room—a dark mahogany crib complete with a changing station and a mobile was placed against the far wall a few feet from the bed. There was also a cushioned rocking chair for Bianca to sit in.
"Guys it's…beautiful.." She hugged both of her parents tightly, but pulled away as a question suddenly formed in her head. "But, where did you even find the time to put this all together?" The door to the room had always been locked, and Bianca never recalled anyone being in there.
"We have our ways," Vivian and Larry grinned proudly. "We're glad you like it, honey."
"And I'm sure the baby is going to love it too," Bianca smiled.
"One more thing," Randy suddenly said before anyone could leave the room. He presented to Bianca another gift bag.
"Who's this from?" Bianca took it and held it up to read the tag, and her heart pounded quickly as soon as she recognized the handwriting. "John…" she whispered before quickly opening the bag and pulling out the sets of onesies that he had chosen back at the store. "Does he know?" Bianca almost panicked.
"No," Randy answered. "He went shopping with me. He knew we were planning a baby shower for a friend, but he doesn't know that it's you."
"Oh," Bianca simply replied as she gazed at the set of clothes silently. "These are really cute," she said, trying to ignore the tears that were welling up in her eyes and threatening to fall. As soon as she blinked, though, the tears rolled down her face.
They watched silently as Bianca wiped her face and placed the set of clothes in the crib. "You know, the baby is coming soon. You have to tell John.." Vivian started.
"I know," Bianca nodded, her quick answer surprising everyone. "And I will tell him…This Sunday night, at the pay-per-view." After all, it was only a few days away.
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Once again, thank you guys for sticking with me! The next chapter is in the works.. Until then...REVIEW!