Crossroads of Life

~POV: Matt~
“Hey Mom,” I said, walking into my living room after getting a good night’s sleep in my own bed.

“Matthew, you’re in a good mood this morning.” Mom replied, tapping my shoulder.

“Just glad to be home for a few days,” I replied, grabbing my cell phone.

“Oh, that went off a few minutes ago.” Mom informed me. I nodded and checked the text message. It was from Maddy, and it said she was getting on the plane and would text when she landed. I sent her a reply back telling her she better.

“So, anything new with you?” Mom asked.

“Nothing to exciting,” I replied with a shrug. “I’m starting to see someone.”

“Oh, good, you need to get back out in the field, especially after what that Clarissa did to you. I hope she’s not like her.”

“She’s far from being anything like Clarissa,” I replied with a smile. “You actually know her.”

“Don’t tell me it finally happened,” Mom said, her hands going to her mouth.

“Madison.” I confirmed for her.

“Oh, thank goodness something’s finally happening between the two of you,” Mom squealed, hugging me harder. “Wait, are you two being careful?”

“Yes Mom, we’re being careful,” I replied, laughing. “I fell in love with this girl when we were younger, I’m not going to do anything that could possibly mess things up.”

“Good, I’m glad.” My mom replied. “So, how are you two making this work? Doesn’t she live in California?”

“She’s actually getting ready to move,” I informed her, walking into the kitchen. After grabbing a soda for myself and a bottle of water for Mom, I walked back into the living room and handed her the bottle. I looked around the house, realizing that I should thought twice about buying this house.

I bought the house when I was with Clarissa. We were engaged for a couple months and I wanted her to live with me, but she wanted a house instead of an apartment, so I went ahead and bought this place. Now she broke off the engagement to be with another guy, and I was left here in the house she designed since I had no sense of design what so ever.

“Where’s she moving to?”

“That’s actually where it gets iffy,” I admitted. “She’s planning out moving out here to St. Louis, but she was offered a place in San Antonio Texas, and she has to decide if she wants to go there, come here, or stay where she is.”

“If she wants to move, just go to where there’s already a place available.”

“It’s complicated Mom,” I told her. “She’s bringing a friend with her who really needs to get away from where she is. Plus it just depends on how her brother treats her from now until she finds a place.”

“Matthew, just promise me something,” Mom said after a silence. “Don’t mess this up.”

“I’ll try not to Mom, I’ll try.”

~POV: Madison~
Stepping off the plane, I went to the car rental center, and used the GPS to get directions to the address Mike gave me. It was a pretty good distance, so I had a good chance to look around at the scenery. Before I left the airport though, I texted Matt like I told him I would saying I had landed safely. He sent back a message saying to be careful and to have fun.
Pulling up to the house, I was shocked to see the amount of land he owned. I came up to a gate with a pad and pressed the button.

“Madison?” Mike’s voice said through a speaker.

“Yeah, it’s me,” I replied.

“Meet you at the garage,” he said.

“Okay so, they know to expect you,” Mike said when I got out of the car. “I just never got around to saying who you really are.” he admitted.

“They don’t know why I’m here?” I asked, stopping half-way through shutting the door.

“I-I was going to tell them when you got here.” he admitted. “You have to think, Cameron’s ten and Cheyenne is going to turn six this year.”

“I understand,’ I replied quickly. He nodded and grabbed my suitcase, leaving me with my messenger bag.

“Beck, she’s here!” Mike called out as we walked through the back door. “Cameron, Cheyenne, come here.” Two kids ran into to the room then, and I couldn’t help but notice how Cheyenne, his five year old, looked similar to me when I was that age.

“Cameron, Cheyenne, this is Madison Haner.” Mike started. “Maddy, this is Cameron, Cheyenne and over there is my wife Rebecca.” I didn’t notice Rebecca, but I waved and smiled anyway.

“Here, we’ll show you where you’re sleeping.” Cheyenne said, grabbing my hand and pulling me toward the stairs.

~POV: Mike~
I watched as the two kids interacted with Madison, their older sister.

“Michael, there’s more than your letting on with her,” Rebecca said, drawing my attention to her.

“Becky, there’s something I never told you or the kids about her,” I started, but was interrupted by the kids coming back down with Madison.

“Have you ever ridden a horsey before?” Cheyenne was asking Madison.

“No, actually I have not.” she replied.

“Kids, let’s go in the living room.” I shot Madison a look, and she knew what I was about to do.

“Okay look, there is something about Madison the three of you don’t know.” I started. “She’s my daughter.”

“Like me?” Cheyenne asked, pointing to herself.

“Yeah Chey, something like that.”

“You weren’t going to tell me?” Rebecca asked, looking between the two of us.

“Look, Beck, I didn’t think I’d ever see her. I can’t say again because her mother took off before she was born. Madison was adopted, but she ended up joining the WWE. We had this connection I guess.”

“How old is she Mike?” Rebecca asked.

“I’m 24,” I answered her instead.

“Dad, does that mean she’s our sister?” Cameron asked. Mike nodded, looking down at his two other kids.

“Yeah, she’s your older sister.”

“I’ll say she’s older!” Cameron said. “She’s fourteen years older than me.” I watched the family talk as if I wasn’t in the room. I was starting to get the feeling coming here was a bad idea. Rebecca was staring daggers at me, while Cameron and Cheyenne just plain stared. Mike was fumbling over himself to please everyone when it obviously wasn’t working out, so I decided to call it quits now before anything else happened.

“You know, it was a mistake coming here,” I muttered out loud, grabbing my suitcase and bag and running out of the house. “I’m sorry, but I shouldn’t of come.” I didn’t notice Mike was following me until I got to the rental car.

“Maddy, it wasn’t a mistake you coming here. You have to think, they just learned you’re my daughter.”

“You know what, we don’t even know if you really are or not,” I said, unlocking the trunk. “All we’re basing this on could possibly be mere coincidence.”

“Then stay here a few more days, and we’ll get a paternity test done.” he said. “Just, don’t leave right now. I know you are my daughter Madison. I can feel it deep inside my gut.”

“That could also be gas or indigestion, you have to watch for those feelings.” I replied. He smiled a little, but the smile dropped.

“Maddy, you are my daughter. If you want the tests done, we’ll do them, but I already know they’re not necessary. You are my daughter, and I don’t want you to leave right now. I lost you twenty four years ago, before I even got to hold you or even see you. I don’t want to lose you again.”

“How do I even know you wanted to be a part of my life when you found out about me?” I asked, tears clogging my throat.

“Because I knew him back then,” a voice behind us said. “And you coming into the world was all he talked about. He tried to change his behavior because your mother said if he didn’t, he would lose you. He did everything for your mother and then went out to a bar. She decided that was enough cause for her to take you away from him by going up to Los Angeles. She forced his rights away from him so he couldn’t get you if anything happened, and he had no way of tracking her down.” Mark walked closer to us. He rested his hands on my shoulders and forced me to face Mike, my biological father.

“If you want to believe in anything, believe that this man did everything to try to be in your life, it was your mother who kept the two of you apart, not him.”

“I still can’t stay. Rebecca hates me and Cameron and Cheyenne have no idea what to think about me.”

“Believe me Maddy, once Cam and Chey get over the shock you’ll be getting invited to tea parties and wrestling events.” Mike laughed.

“I don’t hate you, I’m just trying to get over the shock as well.” Rebecca’s voice said. “You have to think, I have a twenty four year old step-daughter I just found out about.” She walked up to me and gently grabbed my hands. “Please, stay with us for a few days. If you still feel like going home in a couple days, we’ll see you off personally.” I smiled as she hugged me.

“Okay, I’ll stay,” I said, wiping at my cheeks.

“So, Mark, what are you doing here?” Mike asked, looking toward his friend and our co-worker.

“No reason, just heard you were on break so I thought I’d come by and see you since I haven’t since Wrestlemania last year.”

“You drove three hours to come for a visit?” Rebecca asked, looking dubious. I can see their point if he drove three hours to get here.

“Okay fine, Vince had this idea and I wanted to talk to you about it.” Mark admitted.

“Okay, we’ll go into the office.”

“I’ll take the kids and Maddy and we’ll go to the mall. Show Madison around here.” Rebecca suggested.

“Sounds good,” Mike said. “You up to it?” he asked me.

“Sounds fun.” I replied.

“Go freshen up if you need to. There’s a bathroom connected to the bedroom you’re in.” Mike said. I nodded and walked back toward the house. Having to find my way to the bedroom again, I finally got there and dropped my bags back onto the floor. I grabbed out my hairbrush and ran it through the tangles, snagging my hair once which pulled at my scalp.

“Son of a..” I started, but stopped myself when I reminded myself there was kids in the house, even if they were near me. I sighed and sat on the bed, looking around the room. I could already tell this wasn’t going to work out, I was getting a little home sick already.

My cell phone ringing brought me from my trance. I looked at the screen and saw it was Brian calling me.

“Hey,” I said.

“Hi, what are you doing?” Brian asked.

“Nothing much,” I replied.

“Dad said you’re in Texas, really?”

“Yeah, I came to..”

“You don’t have to explain,” Brian said quickly. “I already know. How’s it going?”

“Well, I’ve been here a half hour and I already tried to run away to go back home.” I replied, covering my face with my free hand.

“Give it time sis, think of it from their perspective as well.”

“I know, I am,” I replied.

“So, how long you on break for?” Brian asked.

“Just a few days. Then we have to fly out to Maine to do a live show on television, and then we’re on the road to Connecticut.”

“Oh, so I won’t see you for a while?” Brian asked.

“Nope,”

“Oh, well, have fun.”

“You too.” I said. “Hey I have to go,” I said as Mike knocked on the open bedroom door.

“Hey, they’re waiting for you in the living room,” Mike said as I hung up the phone.

“Sorry, my bro…other brother, ended up calling me.” I replied.

“Madison, if it feels weird to call us family, then don’t. Call me Mike, Rebecca answers to Becky or Becka or Beck, whatever. Go a head and keep calling them your family, because they are.” I just nodded and grabbed my bag, sliding my phone in my back pocket.

“Oh, so when you get back Mark will still be here and we want to talk to you about the script for the next show.”

“Mark? Why is he involved he’s still on Smackdown.” I replied.

“We’ll talk about it more when you get back. Have fun and don’t let Rebecca spoil you too much. She does that to Cam and Cheyenne more than enough.”

“I heard that!” Rebecca’s voice called from the living room. I couldn’t help but laugh at the look on Mike’s face.

“Ready to go?” Becky asked. I nodded and followed her and the kids out of the house.

“So, any place you like going?” Rebecca asked.

“Hot Topic,” I replied. “Spencer’s is there too but I don’t think we should go in there.”

“Never heard of it, what’s in there?” Rebecca asked as she drove through the gate.

“Gag gifts,” I replied. “There’s clothes and stuff there, but a lot that wouldn’t be too good for kids to see.” Her face held understanding as we drove down the hallway.

“So, are you seeing anyone?” she asked me suddenly.

“Uhm, actually yeah, I am.” I replied, the huge smile I couldn’t stop if I tried.

“Really who?”

“He’s a fellow wrestler. We met seven years ago, but things just started happening a few days ago. His name’s Matt Korklan, he’s Evan Bourne on screen.”

“Oh yeah I know who he is,” Rebecca replied. “He’s a cutie.”

“Yeah, but he’s also sweet and caring. He’s funny and dedicated.”

“Sounds like you have a keeper,” Rebecca said with a smile.

“I hope,” I replied.

“You’ve known each other seven years?” Rebecca asked as she pulled into the mall.

“Yeah, we met when I was seventeen.”

“What made you join the WWE?”

“I don’t know, I just saw it on TV and fell in love with it. Then my Dad took me to a live event and I got to go backstage because of who he is, so I just fell even more in love with it. Now I’m part of it, and I still love it.”

“That’s good, passion goes a long way times like this.”

“Don’t I know it.” I replied.