Mariah stood in line at the concession stand, waiting with her daughter sitting on her shoulders. "What do you want to eat, Volt?"
"I wanna eat garlic cheese pretzel, mama." Stella said as she clapped her hands together, pointed up to the picture of the garlic sauce and cheese soaked soft pretzel on the menu hanging overhead.
"You sure about that?"
"Yes, mama."
"Okay then, garlic cheese pretzel it is." Mariah said casually as she scanned the menu items, her tongue passing over her lips as she tried to decide between the same thing as Stella, or a cheeseburger with bacon added.
She settled on the cheeseburger with bacon added and she and Stella turned and were about to make their way back to the skybox when she heard her name being called loudly. She stopped in her tracks as she turned and smirked at an old friend of hers, Natalya Neidhart.
"Is that really you, Ri?"
"It's me, Nat."
"What are you doing here?"
"Long story.. I'm watchin the show with my dad and uncle Steve in the skybox though. Wow.. They don't let you guys do any damn thing onscreen anymore, do they?"
"Sadly, not nearly as much as I'd like to."
"Yeah, I kinda saw that." Mariah muttered as she sat down at a nearby bench, Stella sitting between the two women, eating her garlic and cheese pretzel quietly.
"Volt grew a lot."
"Yeah, she did. She's been talking about seeing you all night too. What's been up with you for the past few years."
"Whoa, no you don't.. First, you're gonna tell me why you look like you've just been about 8 rounds with an MMA chick, then we might talk about me." Natalya coached as Mariah took a bite of her food and sighed then muttered, "Remember Jed?"
"The jackass we all tried to get you to leave alone?"
"That one, yeah."
"Well? What happened? Did he do this to you? Do I need to pay him a visit?"
Mariah laughed a little and shook her head as she smirked and said through a mouth full, "Nope. He's sitting in jail right now, on his way to prison most likely. Besides, I took care of it. But yes, he did do this to me."
She saw no point in hiding it, hell, she'd gotten out, had she not?
"Please tell me you're leaving him and coming back, that's why you're here tonight."
" The thought has crossed my mind, if for nothing more than to rip out Eva Marie's flame red hair and kick AJ Lee's ass a few good times. But yes, Nat, I left him. After I held a loaded shotgun to the back of his head.. This was of course, before he tied me to our kitchen chair."
Stella spoke up as she said "He hurted mama all the time.. But she brave and strong, she never cry. She just hurt 'im back."
Mariah gritted her teeth and winced. She hated that her daughter had even seen them be violent with one another even one time. She hated that at the age of 6 her little girl was already losing shades of her childlike innocence, that she'd witnessed her mother and the man her mother married putting hands on one another.
But she damn sure wasn't going to sit back and let him hurt her, either. She'd have already left, if not for the fact that every single time Jed was sober, he'd be the sweetest guy on earth and he'd almost have her convinced that he'd never touch the bottle again, he'd never hurt her or scare Stella again.
"You did what?"
"I held a loaded shotgun to the back of his head."
"Whoa.. It was that bad?"
"Only after I left him and had the nerve to file for divorce. Apparently, this pissed him off and he snapped. But hey, I've got this under control, Nat, you know me.. I'm like a cat that way.. I always land on my feet, don't I?"
"You're sure he's going to prison?"
"Won't matter if he doesn't. I'll do whatever I have to to keep him at arms length, keep my baby girl here safe. So I'm not too worried about him resurfacing, to be honest." Mariah said as she added quietly, "Besides, he just hasn't seen my daddy mad. But if he shows up, he will. And it won't be pretty."
"Hell, Ri. I'm tempted to go and find this jerk myself, your face.. You look like you've been in a major battle of a civil war or something." Natalya said in concern as Mariah shrugged and said quietly, " I'm fine, Nat. Can we change the subject now?"
She looked at her friend and hugging her said "If you need to talk, I'm here." into her friend's ear before picking up Stella and putting her on her lap as she said with a warm smile, "The last time I saw you, Volt, I could hold you in one hand."
"I know.. I grow.. I gon grow big. I gonna fight like mama."
"You are, huh, Volt?" Natalya laughed as Mariah groaned and then said quietly, with a slight smirk, "Ughh, don't remind me.. I caught her trying to do a DDT to the kid in the house next to ours the other day. I was freaking out."
"Mhmm.. Mama say she gonna have to whoop my a-.."
"Volt?"
"What mama, that's what you say.."
"Yeah, but.. You don't need to. You're a baby. And if you talk like that again, mama's gonna find a bar of soap."
"Yike." Stella giggled as she hid her face in Natalya's neck and giggled a little.
"So.. Guessing everybody's pretty much divided.."
"And you would be guessing right." Natalya said as she tried again, saying calmly, "Come on. You know you miss this."
"I do, but.. McMahon might not even want me back."
"If he took the Bella twins back, and all they're good for is a glorified blow up doll, then trust me.. Just talk to him." Natalya coaxed as Mariah smiled and then said quietly, "I'm seriously thinkin about it, Nat."
"Do it, Ri. Don't think, damn it, just do it."
"She right, mama. You good. Fightin made ya happy."
Mariah looked from her daughter to her longtime best friend and then sighing said "What the hell.. I've been wanting to give it one more shot." as she stood and then said "Are you coming with?"
"Whoa.."
"Yeah.. You talked me into it, Nat.. Besides, somebody's gotta take Volt while I'm in the office negotiating. Because there is no way in hell I'm letting that man control my gimmick." Mariah stated as she raked her hand through her long black hair and stood, waiting, tapping her foot almost impatiently against the linoleum floor.
"Well then, let's go do this." Natalya said as she walked down the hallway with her best friend, Stella sitting on her mom's shoulders.
A few minutes later, the two females and the little raven haired girl stood in front of Mr. McMahon's backstage office as Mariah stood biting her thumb.
"Put your hand on the knob and turn."
"Nat, I'm getting my shit together." Mariah said as she mentally kicked herself and then said "Do not say that word, Volt."
"Otay, mama."
She stepped into the office and cleared her throat as she flopped haphazardly into a chair on the other side of the desk, crossing her cut off clad legs neatly.
Vince McMahon looked up and blinked and then asked, "Did you come to see your father's segment?"
"Yeah.. I saw it.. And I realized something."
"Yes?" Vince asked, smirking.. He liked where this conversation could possibly be heading.
"I wanna re sign with the roster." Mariah said after a few long moments of staring at her fingernails and thinking it over, one more time.
"Okay, I'm listening." Vince said as he studied her intently. He'd seen the girl as she'd grown up, he'd been a part of her father's life, his boss for well over 2 decades nearly.
And looking at how well she'd grown up, well.. He'd be an idiot not to capitolize, would he not?
Though he wasn't too sure he was crazy about the 'country girl' look she seemed to favor these days. He scoffed for a few moments and then asked, "Are you even still in shape?"
With a smirk, Mariah stood up and pulled up the Sons of Anarchy t shirt she'd been wearing, pounded her abs lightly and asked, "Gee, I dunno.." as she rolled her eyes in exasperation.
"You've been training while you were away?" he asked as he looked at her, his brow raised.
Mariah smirked and said calmly, "Yeah. I've been keeping up, I've been going to a trainer.. Not to mention having to fight off the bastard I stupidly married, but yeah, you could say that, McMahon." as she tapped her foot impatiently and cocked her head to one side, looking at him with mild amusement.
"You do realize you'd be starting all over, from the bottom of the card, right?"
"McMahon, do I look like I give a damn personally? Bring your best, I'll break 'em." Mariah said confidently as she sat back down and leaned back in the chair and asked casually, "So are we doing this or not? Because my kid's outside with Natalya, sir, and I don't much like leaving her out there without me."
Vince thought it over a moment and then smirked as he remembered how much she hated over half of the other women on the roster currently, she had at least 9 altercations with the Bella twins alone before she'd quit and dropped off the face of the earth to become a 'mommy' full time.
He reached into his desk and then dug through some files as he found her file, sliding it across the desk. "We actually tried to get you to come back about a year ago, all of our forms kept coming back marked return to sender."
"That'd be Jed. I knew I shoulda shot him tonight." Mariah swore lightly as she took a pen, raised it and then looked at him and said with a calm smile, "I come back in as me. No makeovers, no 'ettiquette' classes and no modeling classes. I am what I am, McMahon.. I'm only back because I missed the fighting. I don't too much care for the storyline drama, I have more than enough drama going on in my personal life. Can you handle that, or.."
"I believe we can work around this new look you've gotten yourself.. It might be nice to have a sort of country girl and proud character on the roster.. Might bring new viewers in."
"Whatever you say, old man." Mariah laughed as she scrawled her loopy signature across the bottom of the page. She looked at him and then smirking said "So.. When do I start?"
"How's Smackdown sound to you?"
"Sounds perfect. Do I need to book a hotel room?"
"Yes, you will.. And you need to meet with Creative first thing in the morning.. I have a confession to make, your father, well.. He's been down here with your godfathers already, told me you might be willing to make a return to the lineup, so I've been arranging it for a few hours now."
"Damn it, I told him.."
Vince smirked and then waved her out as he spun his chair around, raking a hand through gray hair in thought.. Now how could they market her?
Out in the hallway, Mariah walked out, pretending to be upset. As Natalya went to hug her, she laughed and then said "I got ya.. I'm back, Nat."
"What? Wait, he let you re sign?"
"Yeah.. Even after I told the old man not to, he went to Vince anyway." Mariah shrugged as Natalya jumped up and down, shrieking a little. The two women hugged one another and then Mariah said with a smirk, "So.. Looks like you have your roommates back?"
"It looks like it.. I cannot wait to see the looks on Brie and Nikki's faces when they find out. They're going to be furious.. You know they've been gloating that they ran you off, right?"
"Oh really.. They have, have they?"
"They have. So has AJ, really."
"Well then.. guess we know who's getting a special treat first, don't we?" Mariah joked as the two women made their way back to the skybox where Mariah's father was sitting. When she walked in, he looked up and smirking said "Aw hell, Austin.. Looks like I'm bringing back my American Badass persona after all."
"Daaad.. I told you not to tell him before I approached him."
"We missed you too damn much at family poker night." Undertaker said as he smirked and hugged her, ruffling her hair. "Besides.. You're with dad again, you're safe again.. It's gonna stay that way."
"Yes sir, it is."
Now all she had to do was meet with creative and try and come up with some kind of way to make her re entry to the lineup.
And she couldn't wait because after hearing what Natalya said that the Bellas and AJ were saying about why she left?
She definitely had more than a few scores to settle, it looked like.
A/N: Holy crap on a cracker! I'm so happy, so many reviews already, and I've only really just started this one! I love you guys soooooo freakin much, you're all amazing! I'm so glad you like this, I was worried it'd be a little too out there or something, but..
That said, I need to ask you guys something.. Who do you see with Mariah/Stella? I'm not even sure who she'd go with, I only have basic bare things figured out about her personality, actually.. I do know she's kinda like a country/biker/tomboy type and she doesn't take anyone's crap.. So yeah, that's all I do know for now.
Suggestions, ladies?