Author's Note: Like I always remind you, I am a broke student who owns pretty much nothing. Taylor's my creation though.
Legacy of the Rattlesnake
February 2nd, 2009
Taylor emerged from the bathroom after changing out of her ring gear, or at least, out of the leggings and her boots. She hadn't bothered to change from her Austin 3:16 tank and her leather jacket matched the leather shorts she was now wearing, despite the still cool weather. Taylor ran fairly hot most of the time anyway and didn't get cold too easily. She was caught a little off guard by the arm that Cody slung around her shoulders, tugging her in close for a moment.
"Did you enjoy your first show?"
"Hell yes!" She answered with a laugh, receiving a side squeeze from Cody before he released her and allowed her to walk over to her bag and pack the two items she held.
"I'm impressed you managed not to let any grins show until we were back in this locker room," Ted quipped.
"As long as she keeps doing that." Randy snapped before picking up his bag and heading out of the locker room. Taylor quirked her brow slightly at his attitude but let it roll off her back.
"Sorry about him." Cody apologised, "Um… You wouldn't happen to have a car though because I think he's leaving and we drove here with Randy today."
"Yeah, my rental is here. You can catch a ride with me, no worries." Taylor promised her teammates with a smile.
It wasn't long before they headed out to the car, all three of them putting their bags into the trunk. Ted and Cody squabbled briefly over who got to ride shotgun and Taylor left them to it, climbing into the driver's side and starting up the car. Almost immediately Ted clambered into the passenger side and Cody got into the back, the doors shutting behind them simultaneously. She glanced at them in surprise, quirking an eyebrow at the slightly panicked look on their faces and watched as a blush spread over Ted's cheeks.
"Uh… When you travel with Randy, if he starts the car with you outside of it, it means you're going to get left behind unless you decide quickly." He explained and when Taylor looked at Cody, his eyes confirmed the story. She rolled her own and shook her head slightly.
"What a dick. Don't worry; I'm not going to drive off without you. I figured I'd just get the car going while you two finished bickering."
"Right," Cody said, nodding, "You know, Tay, you should come down to the hotel bar with us for a while tonight so we can introduce you to some of the guys. If you haven't met them anyway."
"Well I have met a few people through Dad, but honestly I haven't seen any of them for a while. It'll be good to see familiar faces and to meet the new ones properly. I'm there, Codes."
"It's a date then," Said Ted, before Cody could reply to her, "We'll head straight down to the bar after putting our things in our room? What's your room number, we're in 315."
"Funnily enough, I'm in 316." Taylor said with a soft laugh. "So I guess we can put our bags in and then meet up outside – unless you guys want some time to take a shower, I mean you were covered in baby oil."
"Alright. Give us twenty minutes and we'll meet you and head down."
(~)
Taylor could hear the water running in Ted and Cody's bathroom from her room, not that it bothered her – though she'd had a quiet giggle over them fighting about who got to shower first. She liked the two of them and was relieved to be getting along with her other teammates, even if she and Randy didn't. Her phone buzzed at her hip and she slid it out of her pocket, wondering if it was her father calling even though they'd already agreed to speak the day after the show. It was a pleasant surprise to see Bob Holly's name on the screen. She picked up the call with a smile on her face.
"Well hello, Hardcore." She greeted affectionately, hearing him chuckled on the other end.
"Hey sweetheart, I thought I should give you a call after watching the show tonight. I know you didn't get to wrestle but it was a solid start. And I did get to see you brawling a little with security."
"Thanks Bob. Thanks for watching too, it means a lot to me. I just wish you were still here."
"Don't feel too bad for me, I've got things planned and I'm enjoying myself. I'm going to enjoy watching you too. You know how I feel about a lot of women wrestling – most of them just don't have it but you do, kid. Don't forget that. You're tougher than any of them, hell, you're tougher than most of the guys too."
Taylor couldn't help but grin. The words meant a lot coming from him, she knew he valued that toughness and she tried to exude that in a wrestling ring. She wasn't afraid of a little pain, or taking on whomever she had to. "Bobby, you're gonna make me cry," She teased, "Seriously though. That means a lot to me. You mean a lot to me. I want to make you proud out there. Unfortunately I don't think I'll get to wrestle on televised events as much as I'd like but I'm pretty sure that I'll be tangling with the boys so you'd still get to watch me be a tough SOB."
He laughed a little at her, "Good to know. You'll be wrestling house shows though, right?" Bob asked, pausing for her soft murmur of confirmation, "How's it going backstage? Cody's not still being a brat is he? Because he was towards the end of my run with him."
Taylor's eyes shifted over to the wall she could hear the water running through and a soft laugh escaped her, "No brattiness from him. Actually he and Ted have both been brilliant. Randy's the one who seems not to like me but his seal of approval means nothing compared to yours."
"I'm touched, kid," Bob said and she could hear the affection in his voice, "Ignore Orton and just keep giving it your all. No one can fault you for that. And make sure you keep the other two in line. Now, I'm guessing you're going to head out to talk to people soon, since I know you'll respect tradition no matter who's daughter you are, so I'll get off the line. I just wanted to let you know I'm proud of you."
She actually did have to swallow this time, "Thanks Bobby. I love you." The man was like a second father to her. She was pretty sure she was the only one who got away with calling him Bobby, even though she tried to limit the use of the nickname - for his sake.
"I love you too, sweetheart."
Not long after her call with Bob ended, Ted and Cody were knocking at her door. Sliding the phone back into her pocket, along with her wallet, Taylor headed out the door and smiled at her teammates. Cody slung his arm over her shoulders and Ted followed suite, both of them leading the way toward the lift and making her laugh.
"You excited about Stone Cold being inducted this year?" Ted asked after they'd entered the steel box and Taylor's smile turned into a wide grin.
"You have no idea," She answered, bouncing a little under their arms. "I think they want Vince to induct him, but hopefully I'll get to be up there with Dad at least. I'm so proud of him. He was always my hero growing up."
"Yours and the rest of the world's." Cody replied.
"Yeah but he's not their dad." Taylor said, and Cody laughed.
"Touche."
February 3rd 2009
"So, how'd you go seeing everyone last night?" Steve Austin asked his daughter, listening to her yawn and her sheets rustle. Clearly she'd only just woken up before their phone call.
"Good! You know, introduced myself to people I don't know and fortunately got along with everyone. Reunited with some of the people you'd introduced me to. Everything went fine. Got a call from Bob too, which was nice. I'm actually heading out for lunch with Cena today." She said as she walked into her bathroom, putting her phone on loudspeaker. "You're on loudspeaker dad. We're in the bathroom, and I need to get ready."
"Just no pissing with me on the phone," He teased. Taylor laughed at him, shaking her head even though he couldn't see her and starting to do her makeup, though she kept away from anything too fancy (after brushing her teeth, of course.) Steve continued, "I'm glad it went well, and that Bob called you. You've really made an impression on him. Now, about this lunch with Cena…"
"Dad, you know it's just lunch. Cena and I have always just been friends." Taylor scolded him. John Cena was one of the wrestlers that she had met previously and the two had always gotten along but they acted like siblings, not romantic prospects.
"Just making sure, kiddo." Stone Cold laughed at her, "How did things with Randy go?"
"More of the same." She answered, pausing to pass a lip-gloss brush over her lips and then press them together. "He doesn't seem to like me much." She could almost hear her father scowling as she ran a brush through her hair and looked at her work. She'd used a little powder over her face, just to even her skin tone but not enough to hide the freckles on her face, plus a little eyeliner and mascara. Her lip-gloss had a slight pink and gold tint but it was hardly noticeable without layering and Taylor hadn't bothered. Her hair she just left in it's dark waves, pushing it behind her shoulders for now.
"Ignore him. You know Bob and I will call you out if you actually do a bad job, or need to improve on anything. Randy can just be bitter on his own. Trust the others around you, at least until he gets over himself. And if he keeps being a dick, stomp a mudhole in his ass-"
"And walk it dry!" Taylor cut her father off with a laugh. "I promise, I won't let him get to me, while still being open to critique. But we are going to have to continue this later because I need to get dressed and leave for lunch."
"Alright Tay. Call me when you can. Love you, Kiddo."
"I love you too Daddy."
(~)
"So Randy's being an ass, huh?" John asked Taylor once he'd swallowed down the mouthful of burger he'd been chewing on. Taylor, who was in the middle of chewing her own mouthful, nodded at him with an affirmative sound. "He's always been kinda like that Tay. Temperamental. I don't know if the I.E.D diagnosis for him on screen is that far off, he's always been explosive. Better now than he used to be, mind you, without the drugs. But still. I'm sure he'll come around eventually."
Finally the woman swallowed and shrugged, "I'm not crying in a corner about it. If he comes around, he comes around – if not, I have plenty of friends, who cares if one person doesn't like me?"
"You do have to work with him though."
"So long as he's professional out there, what do I care? Besides, I get along with Ted and Cody. I'm fine."
John studied Taylor for a moment and when he found no lie in her eyes, nodded slightly, "Alright. As long as you're okay, I won't say anything." She rolled her eyes at him fondly before taking another large bite.
(~)
Taylor giggled to herself as they walked out of the restaurant they had finished dining in. They hadn't been noticed by fans but John had been hitting on their waitress throughout the whole lunch and had paused to get her number while Taylor started heading out towards the car.
"Are you laughing at me Baby Austin?"
"Absolutely! How on earth do you do it, John? You had her melting." Taylor was still laughing.
"It's the dimples." He said, grinning at her widely to show them off before throwing an arm around her shoulders and pulling her in towards him. Taylor stumbled slightly and elbowed him in the side. "Hey!"
"Well be careful, you big oaf!" She teased him, and his dimples disappeared into a cute pout. "That doesn't work on me, dork."
"Suuuuure it doesn't. C'mon fool, we have a house show to get to, and you have an opponent to decimate – and then an Orton to laugh at." Cena said, fluffing Taylor's hair playfully and then taking off running towards the car. Laughing, she chased him and snatched the keys out of his hand when she caught up. "Hey!" He objected for a second time that day as she sped up, pressing the beeper and diving into the driver's seat. She smiled innocently up at him as he grumbled and got into the passenger side. "This is my rental."
"Cena, you drive like a maniac. I'd like to get to the house show in one piece."
Author's Note: I realise there's a lot of dialogue in this chapter. I guess I just wanted to open some of Taylor's relationships with people up a bit more for you guys! The next couple of chapter should come out as a pair. Next chapter will be a kayfabe one and I'll follow it with a non-kayfabe chapter. Things should start picking up and getting more dramatic soon ;) (Also, I'm hoping to update If It All Ended Tomorrow soon as well!)