Following The Main Event;
By AliceJericho
Chapter 9: Her Family
"Here's kind of my motto - if you're not happy at home, you're not happy anywhere else." – Angie Harmon
Thursday, February 4
"Dinner's on, Sunday. It should be about half an hour." I lifted my head from my laptop and smiled at my step-mother.
"Thanks, Becca." I closed the lid and swung my legs over the bed, but before I could push myself up, Rebecca sat beside me. "Can I help you?"
"I was just wondering how you're doing, Sunday." She says kindly and I can't help but smile.
"I'm fine." I answered, "I'd much prefer to be out on the road but that's not on the cards right now." I useed my right arm to push myself off the bed and offered the same arm to my step-mother to help her off the bed.
"I spoke to the doctor the other day, Sunday."
"Are you okay?" I ask hered, suddenly very afraid.
"Yes, I'm fine. It was about scaphoid fractures." I unconsciously looked down at my left wrist and rotated it slightly. "They can take up to twelve months to heal properly."
"I've been told."
"And it's quite common for the bone to never heal."
"I know, Bec." I sighed, "I just need to be optimistic about this. Dad's told me, Cody's told me, the physician told me."
"You're stubborn just like you're father." She said to me and I laughed. "His back and his knee."
"Don't talk to me about the knee," I laughed sadly, "If I even think about him losing his smile I start to cry. I've been doing all the exercises I've been told but I physically cannot do it."
"You've come to terms with the fact that you'll need surgery?" I stopped in the door and turned around to face her, nodding as I did so.
"Yeah, I have. A few pins in my wrist is the only thing that's going to help. I'm just lucky it didn't cut off the blood flow."
She put her hand on my shoulder and squeezed it to show that she was there to support me. As we reached the dinner table, I saw Cameron and Cheyenne waiting patiently for their meals. I kissed the tops of their heads before I sat down.
Rebecca began to cut up Cheyenne's meal and I felt pretty pathetic when I had to ask her if she could cut mine – Cheyenne is five years old and I'm turning 24 next month – though she did so without any questions or objections.
"I'm going to see the doctor tomorrow. We're going to talk about surgery."
"I'm glad. I just want you to get better."
"I hate being here. It's boring, there's nothing to do."
"Football game?"
"God no," I cringed at the blasphemy, "Only when I'm with Dad."
"I'd say fly out and be here with me…"
"But I'm not allowed. I know. I miss you already." I said sadly into my phone. "I don't care what anyone says, I'm flying to you for Valentine's Day."
"Iowa, how romantic." Cody laughed, "I'll see what I can come up with."
"I'm looking right now," I told him, smiling to myself. "How about a day at the zoo?"
"It's going to be near freezing… But anything for you." The tone of his voice made me melt as it so often did. "I have to go; I'm going on in 20 minutes."
"Oh, you're being awfully rebellious. No phones half an hour before a match." I managed a light giggle as I stared up at the ceiling, imagining what he looked like at that moment.
"It's what you do to me, Sun. I become rebel with only one cause."
"Ha." I said sarcastically, "I'll let you go before you get into trouble. Don't go forgetting about me."
"Never, darlin'."
"Sunday," a soft knock accompanied the equally soft voice. I looked at the door and smiled when I saw Cameron standing there with a bear in one hand and the other pushing the door open. "Can I sleep here tonight?"
"Of course you can, Cam." I moved over in the bed and put my laptop on the floor, pulling down the covers so he could crawl in beside me. "What's up, Slugger?"
"Dad calls me that." He smiled as I pulled the covers over him.
"I know; which is why I do." I patted his stomach and shimmied down so I was lying down too, "Why did you want to sleep in here with me? My room isn't nearly as cool as yours."
"I miss you when you're away."
"Aww, buddy. I miss you, too." I rolled onto my side and pouted at him. "You're one of the most awesome people I know. I wish you could come on the road with me. But you have school and that's kind of important."
"It's not, it's really not. I can do my times tables so I can leave." He said in a rush, as though it meant that he'd be able to run away with the company.
"Yeah, but what about middle school? And high school? They're both so much fun and you don't want to miss out on that!" I said excitedly, even though I barely spent any time in either.
"I don't want to miss you or Dad." As soon as he mentioned dad his face dropped entirely, not even bothering to keep up the façade.
"You miss Dad."
"He's retiring and I don't want him too. He needs to wrestle and keep all the baddies away." Cam pulled the covers up around his neck.
"Who are the baddies, Cam?" I asked with a knowing smile.
"The Legacy. Miz and Morrison. CM Punk." He snarled all of the names and I laughed at him, ruffling his hair as best as I could.
"You know that Randy, Cody and Ted are some of my best friends. Mike and John are great, too. As for Phil, you know that what he says is only a joke."
"But on the TV they're baddies and Dad stops the baddies."
"But if he stops fighting the baddies, he gets to come home and be with you. He'll go to all your baseball games and he'll take you to school and help you with your homework. Dad being at home is going to be so much better for you."
I was breaking my own heart as I spoke. Everything I was saying was one hundred and ten percent true, he had just never been at home to do all those things with me.
"But he's hurt, I know he's hurt and I don't want him to be hurt."
"Cam, once he comes home he's going to get better. He won't be hurt anymore." I comforted the young boy.
"And I'll still get to see Paul?" he asked me quietly and I snorted – actually snorted.
"All the time. You know they're best friends."
"You and Dad will both be home and we'll be a family again." His eyes started to close, telling me he was drifting on to sleep.
"Listen to me, Cam." I whispered, "No matter where I am, where Dad is. Whether we're here or somewhere else, we're always family. You guys are the most important thing in our lives. If you really needed us, we'd drop the wrestling in a second to come home and help."
"Then why do you always want to leave?" I paused for a moment. It was a valid question.
"Because…" I breathed in and out slowly, "Those guys on the road, Cody, Barbie, Kofi, Ted – everyone – they're my family, too. I need to get a bit better at time management. But I'm all yours for however long it takes for my wrist to get better. If I go anywhere, you're coming with me, Cam."