Disclaimer Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, and the many other wrestlers 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 me, and the children of my own imagination. Any resemblance to any real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental.

Again, this story goes out to Lauraxxx, and many others who suggested I do a story about Neil being able to visit back stage of the WWE. And to Psion53, who, if she reads it, will know what scene she's inspired. I doubt this story is anywhere near what people pictured, but it's the story that came out of these ideas. And I hope you folks enjoy it.

And In This Corner
Part Two

Putting one arm around Cinnamon, and the other around Neil, Dean lead them through the back stage. Fortunately, the road crew had put together the ring and the ramp and were working on the sound and lighting. When they got to the top of the ramp, Neil stopped as suddenly as if someone had thrown up an invisible barrier.

"Wow," he whispered, looking out. "It look so long!" He turned to his Dad. "How do you deal? I mean, you come down here and the lights are on and there are people, and it's all alive... how do you keep from-from peeing yourself?"

"Neil!" Cinnamon scolded automatically.

Dean didn't want to laugh, but he couldn't help it. He ruffled Neil's hair, giving a short burst of laughter, which he reigned in quickly. "You do get used to it. After awhile, it becomes part of your job, even with the lights and the people. Remember though, I started out in smaller places. I didn't one day start wrestling and come to the WWE, I did my time in the indies, so I worked my way up to entrances like this."

Neil nodded, "That makes sense." He looked down the ramp to the ring where Uncle Seth and John Cena were working out their match. "Wow."

"HEY!" Dean shouted, putting his hands up to his mouth in a makeshift megaphone. When both Seth and John turned their attention to the top of the ramp, he continued, a little softer, but still plenty loud enough to be heard. "Sorry to interrupt you, ladies, but my son, the real future of the WWE, would like to check out his future place of employment, I hope you don't mind. And, I don't really care if you do mind."

"Uncle Seth!" Neil called out, waving brightly.

Seth grinned at the boy. "Hey, Neil, you wanna see the ring? " he asked, completely ignoring Dean's insulting remarks.

Neil nodded, his eyes huge.

"Well, get down here then." Seth suggested.

Neil didn't hesitate, he ran down the ramp, his nervousness gone, and hurried up the stairs, then climbed in.

"You got a hug for your favorite uncle?" Seth asked, still grinning.

"Yeah, I do, but he's back in West Virginia," Neil quipped, smiling. There was some truth in that, Jasper Coleman had been an uncle and a substitute father for Neil, longer back than he could remember, and thus was truly the favorite uncle. But in this case he was teasing Seth as much as Seth was teasing him.

"Ow, you cut deep!" Seth said, mockingly putting his hands over his heart as if he was stabbed. "Well, okay, so, you got a hug for one of your favorite uncles?"

Neil nodded and ran over, hugging Seth. "How's Aunt Kayla?"

"Good," Seth said as they drew apart. "When I talk to her tonight, I'll tell her you said hi." He looked over at John. "John, this is Dean's son and my nephew, Neil Ambrose. Neil, this is John Cena."

"Wow," Neil held out his hand. "It's awesome to meet you!"

"No it isn't," Dean said grinning, as he climbed into the ring and held the ropes open so Cinnamon could climb in as well. "If anything, it's awesome for Cena to meet, you."

"Dad!" Neil's face flushed instantly.

"Oh?" John looked at Dean with a smile that was somewhere between a grin and a smirk. "And why is that?"

"Because my kid is some day going to make all of us look like rank amateurs. He's been training to be a wrestler since he could walk," Dean said, standing tall. "He's already better than some of the guys on the roster and he's getting better every day."

"Really?" John turned his attention to Neil. "Is this true, or is your father exaggerating?"

Neil flushed, looking at the floor for a moment, then steeled himself and looked up at Mr. Cena. "I've wanted to be a professional wrestler as long as I can remember," he said, the naked honesty clear in his voice. "Even before I knew my dad was Dean Ambrose. I mean, I always knew my dad was a wrestler, my mom told me so."

Dean nodded. "And this is his mother." He drew Cinnamon forward. "Cinnamon, this is John Cena, John, this is my fiancee, Cinnamon."

Cinnamon held out her hand. "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too," John said, shaking her hand. "Dean can't talk highly enough about you and Neil."

"Well, we can't say enough good about him, either," Cinnamon said, with an easy smile.

With the attention off of him, Neil was walking around the ring, testing out the spring of the floor. It was both different and similar to his ring at home. There were other differences too, not just the obvious, like the ring posts not being covered with foam or the ropes not having a garden hose covering. The ropes had a different tension than his ring at home, even a different tension than the ropes of the WVW ring. he wondered if it was because this ring was bigger than those. WVW used at 16' square ring, just like his ring at home was. The ring the WWE used was 20'.

His parents, John Cena, and Uncle Seth were talking in one area, near the corner, but not too near. Neil eyed the other side of the ring, feeling the muscles in his legs twitch. He wanted to run the ropes, see what it was like to run the ropes in a genuine WWE ring, but the adults were talking and he didn't know if he should wait until he could ask if it was okay, or to just do it, or to not do it. He looked at the adults again, carefully, realizing he could run the ropes from the side closest to the ramp to the side closest to the announcer's tables without any worry that he'd interfere with the adults. He walked over to the end by the announcer's tables, which were being set up by the road crew. With an easy gait, he jogged across the ring, then reached out with his right hand, grabbed the rope, turned and jogged back. He was a little awkward at first, as he got used to the extra four feet of length, but soon enough he adapted his stride and was running the ropes as easily as he ran the ones on the WVW rings, or even his back yard ring.

"See?" Dean said, interrupting whatever Seth had been saying and pointing to Neil. "Watch my kid, he runs the ropes like a pro."

Seth and John exchanged looks, grinned, then turned their attention to Neil. "Oh yeah, he's running those ropes," Seth said. Running the ropes was something every wrestler did for hours when they were training. It helped build up your endurance, but the act itself wasn't that difficult. Dean was making it sound something akin to parting the Red Sea, and Seth had a pretty good idea that was only because Neil was doing it. If it had been someone else's kid, the Lunatic Fringe would not have been nearly as effusive.

"We ran them in his back yard ring the last time I was there," Dean remarked, then called out. "Neil, let's run them together!"

"Okay!" Neil said, not even slowing down.

Dean went over and took the other side, from left to right of the ramp. At first the running looked a little awkward as they had to move to avoid each other, but after a bit they fell into that rhythm where their running looked easy, as if they were working as a team rather than two entities doing the same thing. "Let's speed it up," Dean called. Neil didn't nod, or say anything, he just sped up. After a few awkward passes they were running the ropes just as well at the higher speed.

"Do they do this often?" Seth asked, grinning to Cinnamon.

"Every chance they get now that Neil is no longer in a cast," Cinnamon said.

"He's pretty serious, isn't he?" John asked, indicating Neil.

Cinnamon nodded, not taking her eyes off of Dean and Neil. "He does a lot of the typical things kids his age do, but, he does a lot of other things with his spare time that are to help him become a wrestler. He comes to the WVW matches with me and studies them and is always asking the wrestlers, 'what can I do to get better?' He's been raised on wrestling as much as other kids were raised on television and video games."

"Yeah, I can tell," John said.

"My dad used to take me to local wrestling matches," Cinnamon explained. "It was our thing as father and daughter and I wanted to share that with Neil. And even though he didn't know who his father was until recently, he sure had his blood, because he won't settle for that side of the ropes," she waved her hand, indicating the seating, "he wants to be in the ring."

Meanwhile, Dean and Neil stopped running the ropes. "Watch this!" Dean called out to John and Seth. He turned his attention back to Neil. "Do a flip bump!"

Neil shrugged, then leaped up, doing a flip in the air and landing on his back, carefully spreading his arms to disperse the impact. He did it perfectly, not just the execution of the move, but upon landing, his face even took on a grimace to sell that he'd seriously hurt himself. Of course, the effect was ruined when he sat up and grinned. "How was that?"

"Perfect," Dean said.

Neil looked over at Mr. Cena and Uncle Seth. It was obvious that while he loved his dad's admiration, he wanted to hear what people who weren't his folks, who were professional wrestlers, but less involved. Uncle Seth might be a little more familiar, but it was clear Neil wanted to know what Mr. Cena, someone with no vested interest in Neil's wrestling abilities would say.

"Wow, good job!" Seth called out.

"That was really convincing!" John said.

"Thank you," Neil said, his eyes glowing.

"Do you think you know enough to try and do a quick match?" Dean asked.

Neil stared at him. "I-I don't know," he said. "I-I'm not that good."

"Is that safe?" Cinnamon asked, looking a little worried. "I know he can do a lot of moves, but this is the next step."

"What's a match but doing moves?" Dean asked, but didn't wait for an answer. "You know I'll do whatever I can to make sure he doesn't get hurt."

Neil gulped, almost afraid to breathe. Could he do this? Could he really have a "match" with his dad? Was he ready? He looked at his mother. "Can we?" he asked, trying to be cool, but knowing there was a pleading tone to his voice.

Cinnamon bit her lip, then shrugged, faking a more casual attitude than she actually felt, "If your dad feels it's safe, go for it." She knew this was one of those times where she had to trust Dean and Neil to know what they were doing.

There was a cheering behind them. Other wrestlers had started coming down the ramp, curious as to what was going on. "Do it, little man!" Roman called out. "Show your old man who's boss!"

Neil looked up at the group and gulped. "You-you guys w-wanna watch?"

"Sure," Jimmy, one half of Neil's favorite tag team called out. "Your Dad keeps saying you're the real future of wrestling, we'd like to see what the future holds."

Dean studied Neil, knowing that for him, this was tough. He was the center of attention, something he didn't like. But Dean also knew, that Neil knew if he was going to make it in this business, he'd have to learn to not only not mind being the center of attention, but to adore it, that wasn't just the wrestling, the wrestling was the steak, but the show was the sizzle. And in the entertainment business, the sizzle was just as important as the steak. Neil could be the best wrestler in the world, but unless he could make the audience believe that he lived for their reaction, good or bad, he'd never make it past the indies. This may be one of your first moments, Dean thought. Are you up for the challenge? It didn't matter to Dean if he was ready or not, Dean knew Neil had time, but he also knew Neil would be disappointed if he shirked. That was just the way he was, Dean knew it, because Dean was like that himself.

Neil drew in a deep breath and a cocky grin spread over his face. "Move closer then," he called out, "'cause this may not be NXT, but still, the Future. Is. Now!"

Dean grinned. It wasn't the perfect comeback, but it was delivered with an air of arrogance and confidence that made it work. He saw his fellow wrestlers grinning among themselves and they moved closer. Practically the whole roster was there and they gathered around the ring.

"Gee, maybe we should give you the whole ring," Seth suggested.

"Yeah, that's a good idea," Dean said. "Let the professionals have the ring."

As Cinnamon, John, and Seth left the ring, Dean could feel the tension almost radiating off of Neil in waves as they moved to the center of the ring. "Are you okay?" he asked softly. "You can back out if it's too much."

Neil shook his head. "I'm fine, I can do this."

"Hey, if we're going to do this, we should do it right!" Nattie called out, climbing into the ring. "Someone go over by the bell." She motioned to Neil and Dean, "In the corners, you two!" She looked out at the gathered wrestlers and pointed to Adam Rose. "You!"

"Me?" Adam pointed to himself. "What do you want from me?"

"You're referee," Nattie said in a tone that clearly stated this was not an option.

Adam shrugged and climbed into the ring. "I'm not exactly dressed for it, but I'll make do."

Dean and Neil looked at each other, and with a slight nod, went to the opposite corners. One of the sound techs who was working by the announcer's table, came over and handed Nattie a microphone. "Might as well do a sound check."

Nattie took the microphone and brought it to her lips. "Ladies and Gentlemen, this contest is for one fall or submission! In this corner, from Charleston West Virginia, standing-" she cut a look over to Neil. "five foot five, weighing one hundred and thirty-five pounds, the Challenger, Neil Ambrose!" Cheers broke out from the roster and Jey let out a loud, shrill, whistle. In true wrestling tradition, Nattie had added to both Neil's height and weight.

"And in this corner," Nattie continued, "from Cincinnati Ohio, Standing at 6' 4" tall, weighing 225 pounds, he is the current WWE World Heavyweight Champion, Dean Ambrose!"

Dean smiled. He wasn't the champion, but it sure sounded like music to his ears to hear Nattie say he was. He heard his co-workers boo and almost laughed. He was the bad guy in this match, and that was fine with him.

Neil and Dean both walked out of their corners towards the center. Adam put his arms up as if indicating that as much as they wanted to, they were not allowed to start ripping each other apart just yet, then Tyson Kid rang the bell to signal the start of the match. Adam backed away as Nattie climbed out of the ring.

Dean and Neil circled each other for a bit, one hand up, as if testing each other. Dean let Neil make first contact, and he did, putting his hands on Dean's shoulders. Dean did likewise and the two pushed each other a bit, Dean letting Neil do more of the pushing. "You're going to win," he told Neil softly, their arms hiding their mouths so people wouldn't be able to see or hear them talking.

"Really?" Neil asked, speaking just as softly, "You don't mind?"

"Nope. Now, I'm going to smack you in the chest. You know I'll do it with an open fist, and roll it off you. You fall to the ground, sell it, then roll and give me a leg sweep, okay?"

"Okay."

They drew apart and Dean threw a punch into his chest, that looked for all the world as if he wanted to knock the breath right out of Neil, but in truth barely grazed him. Neil's face took on a look of absolute shock, as if his father had just knocked all the air out of him. He fell back in a perfect back drop, spreading his hands out and grimacing as if not only did he have the wind knocked from him, but he also just possibly broke his back. Dean raised his fists in the air, grandstanding a bit, as his fellow WWE Superstars began booing him. Neil rolled over to his side and Dean made as if he was going to lunge for him. Quickly, Neil rolled to his stomach, curled one leg under him and shot the other one out, sweeping it. Dean jumped and leaped forward, crashing onto the ground with a decent spike bump, making it look for all the world like Neil had forced him into a life threatening fall.

Their match continued. Dean had fully been expecting they'd be doing things slow and easy, but he was surprised at how fast he and Neil were able to move together. No, it wasn't at the speed of a normal WWE match, and it would make the average ROH watcher fall asleep, but it was far from practice slow either. At regular intervals, Dean made sure they got close enough that he could tell Neil what moves they should do next.

They also stayed away from the top ropes. Even though Dean was pretty sure Neil would have been just fine up there, he had a feeling Neil's mother would not approve. Cinnamon was pretty easy going about Neil's wrestling, but every mother had her limits.

When Dean started feeling that the match should be winding down, he pushed Neil into the ropes. Adam came over and hovered near, but said nothing, realizing this was Dean's chance to talk. "Okay, push me to the middle, then do a standing leg sweep. I'll give it a good fall and look dazed. Go to the ropes. When I stand up, clothesline me. When I get up again, give me Dirty Deeds okay? Unless you have another finisher you want to try?"

Neil shook his head, mouth open, making it look like he was in a lot of pain and trying to shake it off for the benefit of the audience. "Headlock driver?" he asked, "or Double armed DDT?"

"Headlock driver," Dean said. He knew his son could do that one, he'd taught it to him the last time he was home. He then turned his attention to Adam and quickly told him, "This is the end of the match. After the Headlock Driver, he's gonna pin me."

Adam and Neil nodded, then Neil braced his arms on his dad's shoulders and pushed him towards the center of the ring. Dean leaned forward, which gave the impression that he was fighting to keep from being pushed, but that Neil was so strong he was able to stop him. It was a little harder than it looked, but Dean had experience and Neil was able to bear his share of the weight. They made it to the center of the ring and Neil swiftly pulled up and swung his foot around behind Dean's legs. With a perfect sense of timing, Dean jumped up and fell down in a back drop, which he sold as hard as he could. Neil stayed behind him.

Dean struggled to get to his feet and once he did, he grabbed onto his lower back as if he was in horrible pain. Neil jogged over to the ropes directly behind Dean and bounced off the second rope, using the Rebound Lariat, then burst forward hitting Dean with a clothesline just as he had turned around. Dean fell to the mat in a bump and lay there, looking as if he was dazed. As he rose to his feet, Neil moved closer, ready to deliver Dirty Deeds as the other wrestlers gathered around the ring started cheering loudly.

Then, an irritated voice filled the arena, interrupting everything. "What the hell is going on here?"

Everyone looked to the top of the ramp and froze when they saw, Vince McMahon standing, glaring out as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing. "Am I paying you guys to stand around watching children playing?"

There were a few moments of awkward silence as everyone looked at each other. Dean was a little bit surprised, this wasn't the first time a child had been in the ring, and it wasn't the first time everyone had gathered around to watch one, either. The WWE was a major stoker in the Make A Wish engine, and many kids had a dying wish of being in the ring at least once. He knows who this is, flashed through Dean's mind. He knows Neil is my son, and therefore, not a Make A Wish, kid. It wasn't a far fetched notion, Hunter and Stephanie probably had told him Cinnamon and Neil were visiting. Vince was no youngster, but he wasn't senile yet and this would be as difficult to figure out as a one colored Rubik's cube. Dean's son was visiting, Dean was now in the ring with a child who looks like Dean. Therefore, kid in ring was Dean's son. Dean opened his mouth to speak, to explain what was going on, but just as he was about to start, he heard another voice speaking instead.

"Sir? Th-this is my f-fault."

Stunned, Dean looked over at his son, who looked scared and nervous, but he wasn't backing down. A quick look around the arena showed Dean he wasn't the only one who was surprised. With his immaculate three piece suit and the rest of him groomed down to the last hair on his head, even at his age, Vince cut an impressive and intimidating figure. Any child who grew up watching the WWE as Neil had, would have to be more than a little nervous knowing that they were responsible for Vince's ire. Yet Neil, who was shy about crowds, Neil, who could be shy with strangers, had spoken out. And even though Dean could feel the tension, the nervousness, floating off his son in waves, he also knew Neil was not going to back down.

"Your fault?" Vince headed down the ramp, a scornful expression on his face. "You're just a child, this isn't your fault. It's the fault of these fools that decided they'd rather waste my time and my money, then do their jobs, which is to get ready for the show."

"No, Sir," Neil said, his voice wavering and lowering slightly. "It's my f-"

"-Rollins, do something useful with yourself and get that kid a mike," Vince interrupted, looking over at Seth. "Get me one, too. If the kid's going to choose this moment to drop his balls, let's give him the voice to tell everyone."

Seth looked a little surprised, but he ran to do what was asked. Dean went to the side of the ring so Seth could hand him the mike, because Neil was frozen to the spot, staring at Vince McMahon in wide-eyed fear. "Give me the other one," Dean demanded. Seth complied, then went back to the announcer's table and grabbed a third mike. He ran it over to Vince, who took it from him, not taking his gaze off Neil.

Dean went over, flicking on the wireless microphones. He fully expected to have to put it in Neil's hands, that the kid would be unable to grab it he was so scared, but Neil surprised him and took the mike from him and held it properly. Dean turned his own on and waited to see what would happen.

"As you were saying?"

Vince's voice boomed through the almost empty arena now, sounding much more intimidating. Dean would not have been surprised if his son had dropped a deuce in his pants, he was pretty sure when he was Neil's age this would have been too much for even him, the loud mouth ballsy kid. For Neil this had to be some form of torture.

"It's my f-fault," Neil said into the mike, which made his voice echo too, but instead of sound intimidating, you could hear the fear flowing across every word, every syllable. He paused for a moment, wincing as if the sound of his own voice disgusted him. Then, he straightened himself up and continued. "I'm the one who wanted to come out and see this ring. I'm the one that wanted to get inside. I'm the one that challenged my dad to a match. Because someday, I'm going to be a professional wrestler."

Okay, so Neil challenging Dean to a match wasn't quite the truth, but Dean knew that at this moment, at least as far as Neil was concerned, it was the truth. More than that, Dean started to hear the strength flowing back into Neil's voice. Not disrespect, Cinnamon would brook no disrespect from Neil at this age, and she was present, even though she too was keeping silent. What was filling Neil's voice now was confidence. He wouldn't be flat out rude to Vince, but nor would he let Vince push him around, just because he was a child.

"So?" Vince waved his hand in a dismissive gesture as if nothing Neil could say had any real significance. "Kid, if I had a dime for every child that came out here, got into that ring and proclaimed that he was going to grow up to be a WWE Superstar, I'd have enough money to give the network away for free to everyone in the world. I know it, they know it too." He gestured again to the wrestlers and divas gathered around. "They've seen it and heard it themselves. And from the looks of you, you're not sick, so this isn't a dying wish. You're just some punk kid that wants to play in my ring. Why should anyone care? Why should anyone be out here watching you?"

This isn't real, Dean thought. Vince would never be this deliberately mean to a child. Instantly, his mind flashed back to Triple H's office earlier, when Dean, Neil, Cinnamon, Hunter, and Stephanie had been talking. What had Neil said? "And I'm notthat great, I've got the moves, but I don't have the presence. The idea of talking on the mike in front of a crowd, still makes me want to pee my pants." Dean knew instantly that Vince had found out about that conversation, maybe it was Stephanie who told him, maybe it was Hunter, but Vince knew it had happened and Vince knew Neil saw the public speaking part of wrestling as his biggest flaw.

He's testing Neil, Dean thought. He's testing my son, seeing if he can do it. My god, my kid is ten years old and has no clue, but he's getting a pre-audition! Dean knew that even if his son botched this, it didn't mean his chances of ever making it into the WWE were over. Vince would understand that Neil was young, and in eight to ten years might have developed a stronger ring presence. But if Neil could impress Vince right now, the odds of him getting a try out, possibly even before he made a name for himself in the indies were going to be astronomically high. Ho-ly, shit! He looked over at Neil, wondering what he would do now. Would he crumble? Or could he carry through? Fail or pass?

In his excitement, Dean forgot there was a third option. Fail, pass, or fly. But apparently, Neil realized it on some level, and also realized he was his father's son. Still drawn up to his full 5' 2" height, he drew in a deep breath. "Why?" he repeated, then answered the question himself, "Because I'm just that good."

It took everything Dean had not to leap up and punch the air in triumph. He knew Neil was nervous, but he had delivered that line with the utmost confidence. Someone's been watching my old promos.

"You might have had a billion other kids in this ring," Neil continued, "And every one of them might have said that they were going to be a wrestler when they grew up, and they all might have said they were the best. But the difference between them and me? I've wanted this my whole life. I've worked for this my whole life. I don't just talk the talk, I walk the walk. I am as good as every one of those kids said they were. Sir, I'm so good, it's scary."

The only sound in the entire arena was Neil's voice, carrying over the microphone. Even the heating system had silenced as if it realized this was Neil Ambrose's time and it would respect that. Dean knew that the kid was borrowing heavily on some of his old promos, but Neil wasn't just repeating them, he was making them his own.

"And if you'll excuse me," Neil continued, "I've got a match to finish."

Before Vince could say a word, utter a single syllable, Neil tossed the microphone to the floor of the ring, then turned to Dean. Bringing his foot up, he kicked his father in the chest, just as Dean had taught him not long ago. Automatically, Dean bent over, tossing his own microphone to the side. Neil got around to the side of him, looped his father's head in his arms, drew one foot forward as if building momentum, then kicked back quickly and fell forward into a modified face plant. Dean brought his arm and palm up to protect his head, and fell forward into a perfect spike bump, legs shooting straight into the air, then pushing himself onto his back, where he landed with a thud, arched his back as if in massive pain, then collapsed as if Neil had beat out the very last ounce of strength in his body. Neil rolled onto his knees, scrambled over to his dad, and wove one arm behind his father's leg to lift it, then laid across Dean's chest in the classic pin.

For a moment, everyone was too stunned to do anything, then Adam Rose remembered he was the referee and ran over. Falling down onto his stomach, he counted out. "One-Two-THREE!"

Adam's yelling seemed to break the spell over the crowd and Tyson rang the bell. Adam pulled Neil to his feet, holding up his arm and pointing to show he was the victor. Instantly, everyone broke out cheering, forgetting for a moment that Vince was on the ramp, caught up in the spectacle of this father and son match, impressed with how well this...boy had pulled it off. And when Dean rose to his feet and grabbed his son's other arm and raising it, the cheering got even louder. Then, Dean went and grabbed one of the microphones on the floor, and raised it to his mouth. "Vince, we didn't have time before, but let me give you a proper introduction. This is my son, Neil Ambrose. Take a long, hard, look at this kid, because this, is the future of your company, right here."

All eyes turned to Vince to see what he would say. He was still standing on the ramp, his face expressionless. His gaze alternated between Dean and Neil for a few moments, then he nodded. "I don't know what you're doing to learn, this game, Neil, but keep it up. And when you're done with school? You get your ass down to Florida. I can't guarantee you a spot, you still have to earn that, but I will guarantee you a chance to prove you have what it takes. Does that sound fair?"

Neil's eyes were wider than Dean had ever seen them and for a moment, he seemed in too much shock to talk, but then he nodded. Dean handed him the microphone and he took it. "Yes sir," he said, his voice filled with a raw, earnest, politeness, so different from his earlier cocky bravado. "That sounds more than fair. Thank you, sir! I promise you, I'm going to keep working as hard as I can."

Again, Dean wanted to leap up and do an air punch. Nailed it! he thought. My kid just fucking nailed it! Nailed it, stapled it, screwed it to the wall! I am totally rocking this parenting thing!

"Good," Vince said, nodding, then he looked around at the members of the roster. "Party's over, get back to work, we've got a show to put on in less than four hours and all of you had better be in top form tonight." Then he turned and started heading back up the ramp again. When he got to the top, he stopped and turned around. Everyone had started to move about again, a feeling of normalcy had come back into the arena, even the heating system had kicked on again, sending in a steady hum. "Oh, Dean?" He called out, still holding the microphone.

Dean looked up, taking the microphone from Neil. "Yes?"

"Be careful," Vince said, his voice solemn, but a glitter in his eyes. "That son of yours could end up surpassing you."

Dean grinned and without a moment of hesitation said, "That's exactly what I'm hoping for."

The End.

Special Thanks To:

Nancy: Good, I'm glad to hear you and your son are doing well, and again, I hope nothing has gotten worse by the time you read this. Yeah, whatever this is, it's kicking my butt, I just hope it goes away soon.

I'm glad you enjoyed the whole "Dean crusades for coffee!" I wasn't sure if people would like it, so it means a lot to me that you let me know you enjoyed it. And, I just figured eventually Dean would get close enough to West Virginia that Cinnamon and Neil could surprise them with a visit. I know when I was a kid, if my dad had been gone as much as Dean is, I would have been begging to see him, so I didn't think it was farfetched for Neil to feel the same.

Again, thank you for taking the time to review, I really appreciate it!

Author's notes: Yeah, again no argument. But I'm feeling like something the cat not only dragged in, but ate and then barfed up on the stairs (and yes, you are welcome for that mental image) So, I just want to get this up so I can go back to bed.

Until next time, take care of yourselves.

Peace Out

Willow