CHAPTER 84:
A few more days had passed and it was now November 19th. AJ, Roman and their daughter had been home for a week and they were now back at AJ's house in Tampa. "Thankfully we got that new place up in Jersey" Roman mumbled as he sleepily laid next to AJ. "Hmmm I know right?" said AJ. Just then, the baby monitor began to sound off, signaling that Alia was crying. "Nooo" said AJ as she woke up. "I was just finally starting to fall sleep." Roman looked up at the clock which read 4:08am.
He sighed. "I'll get her." "No I'll do it" said AJ. "But baby you just went" said Roman. "It's my turn. Besides you need your rest so you can heal." "Are you sure?" asked AJ. "Positive" said Roman. AJ looked down at her feet. "Ugh they're still swollen" said AJ. "Everything's still swollen and sore." "I'm sorry baby" said Roman as he got up and left. He returned back later with Alia who was still crying loudly, causing Bullet to get up and run out of the room as he whined from the disturbance. By now, she had developed a beautiful olive complexion as a complement from her parents and her black hair was slightly wavy but her eyes were still grey. "Is she hungry?" he asked. "Or does she need a changing? Or is she wet, cold, have gas or any pain?" "Here I'll check" said AJ as she sat up to take Alia.
"No it think she's just hungry again" she said as she began to nurse Alia. "I thought you fed her like an hour ago" said Roman. "2 hours ago, but that still doesn't mean anything" said AJ as she continued nursing. "She has to eat like every other hour" she yawned. "So when she does that, does it help take some of the soreness out?" asked Roman. "It relieves it a little, yes but not that much" said AJ. "I'm just really happy that she's not biting the hell out of me anymore because that alone really hurt." Roman glanced at the clock again. It now read 4:12am. "I'm so tired that my eyes are cramping and burning" he said. "I know mine are too" said AJ. "But at least she stopped crying." "Yeah for now" said Roman. He was understandably cranky.
"Leati?" said AJ. "I'm pretty sure that it's normal for a 2 week-old infant to do a lot of crying." "Yeah trust me I know" said Roman. AJ continued feeding Alia until she got full. "I'll put her back in her crib" she said. "It's a good thing that we were able to turn the guest room into a makeshift nursery" said Roman. "Yeah I'll say" said AJ as she slowly stood up but she painfully hissed as she did so. "Ow!" she said. "No baby, I'll help you" said Roman. "You're still very sore". "Yeah I know but I still need to pull some of the weight around here" said AJ. "I gave birth, I'm not handicapped. Now help me look for my glasses." "You're so very determined" said Roman. "Now I know you mean well, but for now…" Roman gently removed Alia from AJ's hands. "I think I can take it from here. Besides you can barely keep your eyes open right now". "But you're leave is over on Sunday" said AJ. "Who's gonna help me while you're not here? Alia and I are definitely nowhere near in shape to travel".
"Don't worry" said Roman as he cradled his daughter. "I always have surprises". "What does that mean?" asked AJ. "You'll see later on" said Roman. Alia opened up her eyes again. AJ half smiled. "Looks like someone is up" she said. "That's ok" said Roman. "I had to get up anyway at 6 to get ready to go train. I can stay up with her until then". "You are the sweetest husband ever" said AJ as she tucked herself back into bed. Roman walked over to give her a kiss before leaving their room to go into Alia's. He sat down in a light pink rocking chair which had her initials "AJJA" carved into it as he watched his daughter fall quietly back to sleep before placing her in her crib. Roman decided to stay in the room to make sure that AJ wouldn't be disturbed again.
A few hours later, Nikki emerged from her room and into Brie and Bryan's kitchen. "It's nice of you to join us" said Brie. Nikki yawned. "What time is it?" she asked. "Its 9:55am, so it's just before 10" said Bryan. "And Brie and I are just finishing up our breakfast." Nikki looked down at the table where there was biscuits, sunny side ups, turkey bacon, and a fruit salad along with mimosas. "No thanks, I'll...pass" she said. "Is everything ok?" asked Brie. "No…not really" said Nikki. "I had one strange ass dream last night." "Oh really what was it about?" asked Bryan. "Well I was in jail" said Nikki. "Why on Earth were you in jail?" asked Bryan. "I don't know" said Nikki. "I think it has something to do with me slapping the hell out of John and Joe." "Why would you hit them?" asked Bryan. "Yeah that doesn't sound so good" said Brie.
"How should I know?" asked Nikki. "And that wasn't even the weirdest part." "What was the weirdest part?" asked Brie. "I think I was going to going to get married to Joe" said Nikki. "Yeah that's it! I remember now! I was supposed to marry Joe because Joy was his daughter but then John came out of nowhere and started insulting us both so I slapped him but then Joe told me that I was a dirty fucking ho for even getting myself into this situation and that's how I ended up slapping him too and then a bunch of pink dancing balloons came falling out of the sky and shit and then suddenly everything was in black and white like a 40's noir."
Brie and Bryan just starred at Nikki with their eyes in shock and confusion as their mouths were agape. "So…I hear that you have quite the busy week coming up huh?" said Bryan as in effort to quickly change the topic.
"Yeah I'm 31 on Friday and I'm the special guest ring announcer on Raw Monday" said Nikki as Brie sat a fresh cold glass of milk in front of her. "Thank you" she said. "Cool" said Bryan. "And it's in Bakersfield luckily" said Nikki. "That way I don't have to catch a flight somewhere now that I'm 6 ½ months pregnant". "Um no it isn't" said Brie. "It's in Phoenix as in Arizona, our home state. I would know since I'm on it". "Wait what?" asked Nikki. "Yeah" said Brie. "Didn't you get the memo last week?"
"No" said Nikki. "I've been too busy selling houses all over San Diego". "Well then I guess it's a good thing that I've already taken into liberty of booking your flight" said Brie. "How in the fuck did I forget that?" Nikki asked. "Nicole I'm sure it isn't you" said Bryan. "It could be that you just simply forgot especially after selling what 10 houses in a week, I'd forget stuff too and since you are, maybe it's about time you start to you know, slow down and stuff? You're almost in your last trimester". "No I can't" said Nikki. "I'm not until I'm 8 months as I really need the money now that I'm not wrestling. Besides lots of women continue to stay on working until then and I'm not about to allow pregnancy brain stop me."
Brie sat a plate of fruit in front of Nikki. "Ugh not now" she said. "I'm still feeling kind of nauseous." "I know but you have to eat for Joy" Brie encouragingly said. "Just start out slow with a few bites. That's all." Nikki sighed. "Fine" she said as she began to take a bite of strawberry. "Well in other news, haven't you heard yet that AJ finally her baby?" said Bryan. Brie's eyes turned concerned as she waved for him to stop.
"What?" he asked. "Wait a second" said Nikki. "AJ had her kid already?" Brie got quiet. "Did she!?" shouted Nikki. "Look Nicole, we weren't going to tell you" said Brie. "At least not until after the Thanksgiving Holiday". "This is unbelievable" said Nikki. "No one, not even my lawyer was notified." "That's because the baby isn't her legal jurisdiction" said Bryan. "She's only responsible for the outcome of your daughter, not AJ's." "It…was a girl?" asked Nikki. "Yeah" said Brie. "And that's all we know so far. She was born prematurely 2 weeks ago on the 4th." Nikki stood up.
"Ok but still, none of you even bothered to tell me" she said. "We didn't want to trigger another episode" said Brie. "Damn it Brie the Psychosis and everything is suppressed by the pregnancy hormones" said Nikki. "Not everything" said Brie. "Your depression isn't suppressed by anything….which is what drove you to you know." Nikki sighed. "Yes Brie I know but that still doesn't explain why John hasn't said anything." "Because the baby isn't his" said Bryan. "Joe is the father". "But wait, you just said that all you knew was that AJ and Joe had a daughter who was born prematurely" said Nikki. Bryan sighed. "Yes Nikki that and that Joe is the father but that's all we really know." Nikki breathed a huge sigh of relief. "Well one problem solved, another one to go and it won't be for another 3 months" she said as she began to leave.
"Where are you going?" asked Brie. "To shower and get ready" said Nikki. "I have a house to show at 1:30 and I'm already behind schedule as it is". "But you didn't finish your breakfast" said Brie. "Don't worry, I will later after I shower" said Nikki and with that she continued walking towards the back of the house.
A/N: Reviews are always welcome :-).