Raw: September 23, 2013
I was going through some paperwork in my office as Randy sat in another chair to entertain our son.
"What am I doing tonight?" Randy asks as he keeps playing with the baby.
"Well, apparently you're facing the winner of the vote of the audience, and it looks like the options are everyone who helped Daniel last week." I answer. "Before you say anything, this wasn't me."
"I can tell."
"I'm sure you'll be fine against whoever wins the vote."
"I should be. Shouldn't Brad be here to help you by now?"
"He took this week off. He told me that he had some stuff going on."
Randy rolls his eyes. "Hell of an assistant you've got."
I give Randy a stern look. "He actually does help me a bit."
"How much is a bit? You've seemed to handle every matter that's come your way without Brad."
"He helps. Okay, Randy?"
"If you say so."
"Is there some plan you've got tonight?"
"If Triple H and Stephanie have some plan going on tonight, they've not told me. As far as I'm concerned, I'll just wrestle and probably go get under Daniel's skin a bit."
"Of course you want to go get under his skin."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You like getting under your opponent's skin. That's all, Randy."
"Oh alright then."
The baby started getting fussy. Randy turned his attention back to him.
I continue going through my paperwork. Daniel barges into my office without knocking, grabbing both mine and Randy's attention.
I roll my eyes. "Ever hear of knocking?"
Daniel sighs. "It's not like you're in a meeting or anything. We need to talk."
"Make it quick. I'm doing paperwork."
"I'd like to talk alone." Daniel sends Randy a glare.
"I'd be willing to do that if you showed enough respect to knock or see if I was free. You didn't. Randy is keeping an eye on our son while I take care of things. He stays here."
Daniel shoots me a dirty look. "Why am I in an 11 on 3 Handicap match?"
"One, I didn't make that match. Two, you're in the team with eleven. Why are you mad?"
"An 11 on 3 Handicap match is stupid. I should be wrestling with top competitors. Start doing your job, and fix it, Marissa."
I give Daniel a stern look as I notice out of the corner of my eye that Randy is looking visibly irritated. "I hope you realize that I'm the only authority figure in this company that is allowing you to be anywhere near the WWE Championship. You should probably be a little more grateful and appreciative. Instead, you're in here, trying to bitch at me until I give in to your demands. First of all, since Stephanie or Triple H made that match, I cannot change it. Second of all, bitching at me isn't going to get you anything except me being pissed off at you. Believe me, Daniel, that's the last thing you want to do."
"This is bullshit. How come Randy isn't in matches like this?"
"I can't answer that because I didn't make his match tonight either."
"I bet you're just protecting him like you always do since he's your husband. I hope you realize that you're a shitty general manager."
"Daniel, if you don't shut up, I'll start putting you in Handicap matches where you're at a disadvantage and maybe even take you out of the WWE Championship match at Battleground since, you know, I made that match."
Daniel scoffs. "You're no better than Triple H and Stephanie. I hope someone knocks you off that pedestal you're sitting on sooner than later."
I give Daniel a dirty look. "Get out."
Daniel laughs before exiting my office. I close and lock the door behind him.
Randy gives me a serious look. "Does he always talk to you like that?"
"He barely talks to me at all."
"You'd think he'd be more appreciative. You gave him a chance to be WWE Champion."
I shrug. "I think we're both just avoiding each other. Just because I don't agree with Triple H and Stephanie's decisions against him doesn't mean that I forgive how much of an ass he's been over the years."
Randy sighed. "Personally I wouldn't be so nice if I was in your position."
"I'm surprised you didn't say anything while he was in here."
"I thought about it, but I figured it was best not to."
"Fair enough."
Randy looks at his phone. "Stephanie and Triple H want to see me. Do I need to take Junior with me?"
"I'm actually about done with all this paperwork. I can take him. You go have your meeting of plotting and scheming."
Randy laughs. "Fair enough. I'll see you both later."
Randy passes the baby to me before kissing my forehead. I smile to myself as I put the baby in my lap and Randy exits my office.
I sat in my office with Renee as we watched the show together. "I just feel weird right now. Like we're on the same page that things need to get better, but I don't know if they'll completely get better. This may be the worst that things have been between us since being in a relationship together. And that says a lot."
"Have you always fought a lot?" Renee asks nervously. "I hope that isn't too personal to ask."
"It's not. We're friends, and I'm ranting about him. I wouldn't say we've always fought a lot. We've been in a relationship for over four years though, so I've got a bit of a list of fights we've had. They're usually work related. We probably wouldn't fight practically ever if we weren't coworkers too." I give a small laugh. "Of course, we both love wrestling too much to give that up. But there's been a good amount of work related fights, some of them were my fault and some were his fault. Not to mention that our very short breakup was technically work related."
"Very short breakup?"
I sigh. "We don't even count it as a breakup anymore because it was really short, but it was one. I was out of action at the time because I had torn my ACL and had to get surgery. Things had been a bit rough for a couple months. Randy was still working and traveling, and I was staying with my brother Shane and his family in Connecticut because with the way schedules were, it was easier than staying with my brother Tyler in Saint Louis. Plus, I didn't feel comfortable with bothering Randy's parents to help since we didn't even seem close to getting married at the time. Anyway, things were strained, but when I was allowed to be off of my crutches, I felt like I was fine to be home alone and went back to Saint Louis. Days later, Randy broke up with me, claiming that it was too much of being in a long distance relationship for him, despite me being home at that point. I thought the whole time that wasn't the true reason."
"What was the true reason?"
"The Nexus left him a note threatening me while I was still injured, despite the fact that I hadn't been back to any shows yet. Randy just decided to break things off for the time being to be safe and didn't explain any of that to me."
"That's so stupid."
"I couldn't agree more. Anyway, Randy started dating Brie pretty much right after because he got lonely and needed someone around. Daniel asked me out soon after, and I agreed. Honestly, I'll admit that was partially because of Randy and Brie, and it wasn't my best decision. Daniel and Brie were sleeping together pretty much the whole time. Randy and I both ended things with them and ended up back in each other's arms soon after."
"Is that why everything seems so personal between you and Brie?"
"Yeah, I'll admit having Daniel as a rebound wasn't my best decision, but Brie was even shitty towards me while with Randy."
"That explains a lot, but back to this whole thing with Randy. Do you see things getting better?"
"It'll take time, and I have doubts about things getting one hundred percent better. However, I've still got hope that we'll work things out."
I look at the screen as Randy is talking to Nikki and Brie backstage. "Did he just say that this is what a real man looks like? That almost sounds like he's flirting with Brie to me. Am I crazy?"
"Honestly, I kinda agree."
I roll my eyes. "Randy and I are going to have to have a bit of a talk."
I was working on getting the baby ready to go when I heard the door to my office open. I look over to see Stephanie standing in the doorway.
"I'm not going to have a fight with you in front of my son." I tell Stephanie with a stern look.
"Well, I'm not here to pick any fights." Stephanie says before walking in and closing the door behind her. "I want to have a civilized conversation with you."
"Are we having civilized conversations now?"
"I'd like to have one."
"Why?"
"Despite all the stuff going on around here, you and I are still sisters. Hell, you and I were close before we found out that we were sisters."
"So you want to act like a sister now?"
"I never didn't want to act like one. You and I just haven't been on the same page about things."
"What brought all of this on?" I move to start packing mine and the baby's bags.
"I can hold him while you do that if you want." Stephanie offers. "It'd make it easier on you."
I passed the baby to her. "Thanks."
"He looks just like Randy."
"I get that a lot. But seriously, why are you wanting to talk now?"
"A few things honestly. For starters, I know that you and Randy are having issues and want to let you know that I'm here if you need to talk about it. He hasn't gone into detail really about your issues, but I'm sure all of this here at work has something to do with it. I'm sorry about that."
"Why was I left out of the loop?"
"I figured he'd told you. I don't know if Paul maybe told Randy to not tell you, but I didn't. I figured he would've told you, and I honestly think that would've been for the best. And after knowing that you weren't in the loop about it, I don't blame you for not telling us that you were going to be Raw general manager."
"Even if I was in the loop, I wouldn't have agreed with screwing Daniel over."
"But would you have stopped it or even tried to stop it?"
I sigh. "Probably not."
"Exactly. I can respect that you don't agree with how we handle things, but even you have to admit that you don't like Daniel."
"I'd never deny that."
"But back to what I was saying, you and Randy are having issues. Are you doing alright?"
"Do you want my honest answer?"
"Yes."
"I'm miserable. I don't know how things could get so sucky for us in under two months. Yes, work was part of it, but it wasn't everything. We've discussed working on things, but honestly, things haven't improved."
"Do you think things will get better?"
"I have some doubts, but I haven't given up on the possibility of things getting better."
"But right now, things are rough for you two."
"Exactly. It doesn't help that Randy was out making comments to Brie Bella on live television that sounded like flirting. I know that bit wasn't scripted."
"That was one reason I came by. I thought it sounded like flirting too."
"I'll find a way to set Randy straight. I don't think he meant for it to sound that way, but it did. I don't like how it came off, plus it was on TV, which makes it even more embarrassing for me."
"Brie is running around backstage running her mouth about it already. Do you want me to set her straight?"
"No, if she thinks Randy was flirting, she'll run her mouth to me. When that happens, I'll knock her teeth down her throat. I'm not wrestling right now, but that doesn't make me a pushover."
"But what if things with Brie escalate to a point where she tries to wrestle you in a match?"
I shrug. "I'm probably actually more prepared for that than you think."
"You're prepared to wrestle again?"
"Not completely, but I've been in the ring at my house. I haven't done any training, but I've been doing a lot of rope running and practicing taking some bumps. If Brie pushes for a match against me, I can at least make sure I have time to do some training. Plus, if she thinks I'm less prepared than I would be, I'll catch her off guard."
"That's a good point. Does Randy know that you've been in the ring?"
"I'm not sure. I haven't intentionally hid it from him, but I don't think he's been around when I have."
"Are you guys going to be okay for the charity dinner next Friday?"
"We'll be fine. Even if we're not getting along, we can keep up appearances for a few hours."
"Good, you should know that Daniel and Brie are supposed to be there too."
"We'll sit as far as we can from them. Believe me on that one."
"Alright then. Are you sure you're going to be okay between the issues already there with Randy and him coming off like he was flirting with Brie?"
I sigh. "I'll be fine."
"If you say so. I know you love Randy, but don't think you need to force yourself to stay in a situation that makes you miserable. If Randy's not listening to you and trying to help things get better, plus flirting with a woman who's his ex, it may not be a bad idea to consider divorce. If I was in your position, I'd definitely be looking into it."
"Okay."
Stephanie passes Junior back to me. "I'm gonna go, but reach out if you need to talk."
"Okay." I reply as Stephanie leaves.
