Chapter Fourty:
Next Monday:
Lita, Jeff, Johnny, and Joan arrive at the arena.
"I finally get to see a live WWE event." Joan excited to see everything up close.
"Do we remember the rules?" Lita warns. She knows Joan is excited, but she doesn't need her getting lost.
"Yes mommy." Joan rolls her eyes. It has been hammered in their heads the rules to follow at the arena.
"I just want my son and daughter to be safe, is that a crime?" Lita notices her disapproval tone,
"Of course not, however you have to trust that we know them after repeating them fifty times." Joan explains her action.
"My girl it has been a bit repetitive." Jeff agrees.
"Okay." She sighs. This is her first time as a parent, she wants to do a good job.
"I think mommy needs a big hug from her only son." Johnny requests.
"I do." She picks him up to get that big hug from him.
"Thank you." She pecks him on the cheek.
"Johnny, you don't want other siblings?" Joan wonders. She would want a brother or sister, mostly a sister to play with.
"Of course I do, but they will be girls. I will be the only momma's boy while you and my other sisters can share mommy."
"Wow, I am adopting you just to get snub off by Lita." Jeff acts surprise. "That is a true momma's boy action."
"Leave him alone." Lita protects him from Jeff's pretend hurtful words.
"We can do that to, isn't that right, princess?" Jeff smiles at Joan.
"That is right, daddy." Jeff carries her. "Although I would like you two to have your own baby. We can be the protective siblings to him or her." At the shelter, they both act like a big sister/ brother, so she wants to actually be one.
"It would be very special to you too just don't like him/ her better than us."
"We will never let that happen. We will all love you in equal ways." Jeff and Lita promises their children.
"Good." Johnny accepts.
"Are you two walking or hitching a ride on us?" Jeff wonders if they want piggyback rides.
"Walking, we have to prove to be mature children." They get let down and then both of them stand up tall. Jeff and Lita both smile as they are proud of their confidence. "Let's go meet with your boss."
Jeff knocks on Vince's temporary office. "Come in." Vince calls out.
"Hello Mr. McMahon." Jeff greets.
"You are all here already." He is shocked at their early presence.
"You said to come before the show starts."
"I did I just thought you would all come an hour before. It is like two and a half hours before Raw starts." He checks his watch.
"Joan and Johnny were anxious to get here; especially Joan." Jeff explains.
"I see. Since you are the manager-" He turns to Joan. "I will let you read the script for the segment." He jokes to give the script to her.
"Thank you." Joan takes out her pretend glasses before reading. Everyone tries not to laugh at her professionalism.
"Sounds good to me. Mommy, daddy… I mean Lita and Jeff." She restates to stay professional. "You can take a look at this now." She takes off her glasses to give them the script.
"It looks good, should we accept it?" They both ask their adorable manager.
"We will after your boss signs this contract." Joan takes out a folded paper from her pocket. "Please read and sign." She lays the contact down on his desk.
"What is this contact for?" Vince inquires.
"It is to protect us from further use in any storylines. We are contracted to this storyline and this one only." Joan explains some of the details in the contract.
Everyone is once again surprise with her preparedness. "You don't want to participate in future storylines?" Vince wants clarification.
"That is correct."
"If I refuse?" Vince wonders.
"We all leave. We leave the arena and your storyline." Joan stays strong.
"Jeff and Lita can't walk out they are contracted with us. If they leave now, they will be fine and lose their jobs." Vince warns with a smile.
"Umm sweetie, maybe we should talk to him now." They fear that he is not bluffing.
"Mommy, I have this just trust me." Joan assures them.
"Trust her she knows what she is doing." Johnny supports her. Jeff and Lita both nod as they listen in.
"If you do that then we will file a complaint. You offered them a two-month leave, right?" Joan starts.
"That's right."
"But you called them back a month early."
"We had to with it being best for business."
"I get that you strike when the iron is hot, however they had a month to prepare themselves for returning. Also, you know that they are going to be adopting myself and Johnny, right?" She argues.
"That is correct."
"If you knew that why did you call in the first place?" Vince starts to talk, but Joan answers first. "You wanted to have high ratings since that is what the crowd wants."
"That is how you stay on top you listen to the crowd." Vince advises to her.
"It is a good point, moreover you need to listen to your employees as well. If you have no employees, how do you put on a show?" She questions his advice.
"We just use loyal employees." He answers.
"You said the crowd wants both of them; Jeff and Lita, so you won't give the crowd what they want?" She rebuts.
"You can't get everything you want."
"Actually you can try whether you win or fail. The crowd can be very outspoken sometimes, which can be very conversational. Imagine the crowd chanting Jeff or Lita's or both names non-stop. Sometimes it last long enough that it will fade, other times people just don't watch or attend events." She acknowledges the different circumstances that could happen.
"That is not going to happen to us." He speaks as he considered signing the contract.
"Are you sure? Are you willingly to put that on contract?" Joan grins.
"Yes." Everyone except Joan gasps that this is going to be their fate; fired for not participating.
"Okay." She stands up. "Just one more thing, if you don't agree you have lost two viewers."
"That is fine with me." He grins.
"Oh, plus the shelter fans too, Jeff and Lita's family viewers, and friends in Atlanta and North Carolina."
"We can manage." He stands confident.
"I guess I can post a video to tell everyone to stop watching as well. I can pout to persuade them and maybe I can ask the others at the shelter to help. I will tell them the story about having Jeff and Lita return early is making us without parents for a year." She starts to plan the concept of her idea. "I wonder if it will pull on their heartstrings." Joan ponders.
"You are good." Vince compliments.
"Thank you." Joan smiles appreciative of the compliment.
"If I sign this you won't do anything you said before? Jeff and Lita will return for the storyline." Vince clarifies. Joan nods in approval. "I will sign it." Vince half signs the contract. "Here you go."
Joan takes it with a smile. "Johnny, do you want to double check?"
"Absolutely." He checks the contract and signature. "Everything seems to be in order."
Vince grins. "He only signed his first name. This could be any Vince that works here."
"I thought that would happen, so we will have a visit with Stephanie." Joan is not phase by this having a back-up plan. "We tell her the same story; she will sign the contract."
"I tell her not too and she won't." Vince speaks out.
"She will listen to you; how many times has that happen? I would be surprise that a strong, independent woman would not have opinions for herself." She counters his rebuttal.
"Fine you win I will fully sign my name." Joan hands him back the contract.
"Thank you."
"You know you have a knack for this business. When you are older, you already have a career you can come back work with the WWE." He offers.
"Maybe, that is like twenty years from now."
"Just think about it, I mean you could run alongside me to dominate the sport industry."
"I can do that or I can run against you." She ponders liking that idea better. "I will definitely think about it, thanks." She walks away.
"What, I don't-" He got outsmarted by her again.
"We will see you later." Joan opens the door as Johnny and Lita follow.
"She is a trouble maker." Vince acknowledges to Jeff.
"Yes, she knows what she wants. She is persistent to get what she wants. However, we need that to follow our dreams, isn't that right?"
"We do indeed. Have fun out there."
"Thanks." He takes the script and heads out the door. Vince chuckles as he dials a number.
"Hello." Vince greets.
"Hi grandpa." One of his grandchildren greets. With what just transpired he misses all of them.
"Is everyone ready?" Jeff asks his family.
"Yup." Johnny answers.
"Can't we go out there with you I don't feel safe backstage without you two?" She just wants to feel what it is like to be out there in the ring.
"You won't be alone because I brought someone to watch you." Lita informs them.
"Can't we just go out with you two?" She pouts.
"No sweetie, well not tonight." She sits beside her. "You and Johnny just stay here and watch us on the television." She rubs her left arm.
"Who is watching us?" Joan admits that they won't let her go out there.
"You will love him he is great with children." Jeff answers.
"Who is it?" Johnny inquires.
"It is-" There is a knock on the door. "Excuse me." Johnny and Joan look confuse knowing it is a secret they are here.
"Jeff, what are you doing in my locker room?" John Cena questions.
"No way, he is our company?" Johnny is amaze that he had time to keep them company.
"Yes, he is going to look after you two while we are in the ring. Do you accept this baby girl?" Jeff asks her.
"I guess." She speaks like she doesn't have a choice. Furthermore, she is actually a fan of him.
"Have fun and don't cause trouble for him, especially you Johnny."
"Yah. Yah." He waves it off. Jeff and Lita exit closing the door behind them.
"What do you two want-" He gets interrupted with Joan hugging his legs. "Umm… hello."
"She is a fan of yours." Johnny reveals.
"Yes, I see that. I am guessing she doesn't want Jeff and Lita to be jealous that you love me more." John jokes.
"Maybe." Johnny shrugs.
"How about I give you an autograph?" John requests.
"Please." Joan speaks innocently as she looks up at him.
"You want one too." He turns to Johnny who nods. They all sit on the couch to get autographs and watch their parents' segment.
"Are you ready for this?" Jeff asks at the gorilla.
"Yes I am because at the end of this storyline I am going to marry you. We are going to be husband and wife with our two children."
"It will be perfect."
"You two are on next." The stagehand warns.
"This is it, are you sure you want to do this?"
"Yes, now stop asking and let's conquer this crowd." She pulls him to the entrance as his theme music starts to play.
The crowd goes insane to hear a familiar theme song. As they both head out, they go ecstatic. Jeff and Lita soak it up as they head to the ring. After five minutes, the crowd dies down to let them talk.
"Hello." Jeff greets. "We are back from our time-off, did you miss us?" The crowd cheers in acceptance. "As you can see Lita hasn't gotten enough of me yet." He jokes.
"And I will never." Lita assures everyone.
"We came out here for an announcement." The crowd goes silent hoping that they will not leave again or retire. "We are getting married." The crowed cheers in excitement.
"Yes I am marrying this wonderful man." Lita pecks him.
"Wait a minute." Edge comes out uninvited to have Jeff and Lita roll their eyes.
"What do you want?" Jeff harshly inquires.