Crossroads of Life

~POV: Maddy~
“Madison, just listen to us,” Dad said as I stormed up the stairs.

“I don’t want to, just leave me alone!” I called back to him as I slammed my bedroom door shut.

“Wow, still slamming doors to prove a point to your father, so juvenile,” Matt muttered from my bed.

“What, and sneaking in through my window and hiding in my bedroom isn’t?” she retaliated.

“Touché,” Matt nodded approvingly. “So, what’s this argument about?”

“I’m planning on going back to WWE once I get cleared, but Dad doesn’t think it’s a good idea.”

“Oh,” Matt muttered, not looking at me.

“You think he’s right!” I nearly shouted, but I had to remember that my father was downstairs and didn’t know my boyfriend and the father of my son was in my bedroom with me.

“Not completely,” he finally admitted.

“I don’t care, it’s my life. I don’t have Owen to worry about, Matt and Val have him, he’s their son now, I just brought him into the world.”

“You’ll always be his mother Madison,” Matt said. “No matter who’s raising him.”

“I know, and, I didn’t want to leave, but since I know he’s in good hands, I want to go back. Nexus needs a lesson learning anyway.”

“I think you should go back to the company, but not as a performer.” Matt finally admitted.

“What? Why not?” I asked, shocked that the words left his mouth.

“Madison, all of this happening with Owen made me rethink my priorities, and you’re number one on that list now. You and Owen both mean the world to me, and I want you safe. Being in that ring, you tend to become a little reckless, and an injury is bound to happen more severe than what you just went through thanks to Hardy. You’re lucky you even have the option of thinking of returning. I made a mistake and lost you once, I don’t want that loss to be more permanent.”

“Joey,” I sighed, feeling his words tugging on my heart. “Ever since I was taken to my first event, all I wanted was to be where I was before, in the ring with the best of the best.”

“And you’ve had that,” Matt said, cutting off anything else I was saying. “Madison, please just, listen to me. I had to watch you with the neck thing. I was here after Owen was born, watching him struggle to live and watching you struggle to bring yourself to terms with his birth. I don’t want to watch you suffer anymore.”

“I’m going to have pain no matter what I do Matt,” I snapped. “Why can’t people understand that I need to do this? What if I told you not to go back? Huh? What if I said you’re not allowed to go back because I don’t want you to get hurt, or that I don’t want you doing your shooting star anymore?”

“You know, you really wasn’t ready to be a mother, you still act like a baby yourself,” Brian’s voice said from behind us.

“I’m being a baby? I’m trying to live my own life. I don’t have Owen to really worry about because Matt and Val has him now. My neck is better and I just have to get back into shape and I’ll be fine to go back. I’m not being a baby Brian, I’m trying to get all of you to stop treating me like one.” I pushed past him and down the stairs.

“That right there Madison, that is what makes you a baby. You’re running away instead of talking to people.” Brian snapped, stepping in front of me to stop me from leaving. “You have to stop this fucking running!” I stared at him, my eyes prickling with tears before collapsing to the ground.

“Madison,” my father’s calm voice had me looking up. “It’ll ultimately be up to you, but you have to think, even if Matt and Val is raising him, you have a son in the world. You can’t keep throwing tantrums like this. You’re a mother, even if you don’t feel like it. You are a mother, and you have a baby that still needs you.”

“Owen might have been released Mad, but you have to think, he had drugs in his system from the surgery,” Brian added. “He was born three months early. He might have been released, but he’s still not completely free. Defects might pop up in the future, hell there could still be drugs from the surgery left in him, and those alone can be enough to cause something bad.”

“I know,” I whispered. “I’m sorry, okay. I don’t want to be like this, but I don’t know what else to do.”

“Let us help,” Dad said, kneeling in front of me. “Talk with us, stop trying to run away from your problems. If you want us to understand why you want to go back, then explain it to us. Make us understand why it’s so important to you. We will listen to you, when haven’t we?” I glanced up at Brian, who shook his head and raked a hand through his hair. “Besides dumbass, lovesick Junior back there.” Dad added with a smile as he looked back at his oldest son. Brian gave him a scowl, but still smiled all the same.

“I can never make up for that time Mads,” Brian said. “I know, you can’t trust me because of that, but I’m trying.”

“Brian, when you kicked Michelle out after she tried to attack me, that was enough for me.” I said.

“What if I tell you Michelle was actually arrested a couple days ago for her seventh DUI, so she’s going to be spending time behind bars?” Val’s voice asked from behind Brian. “She’s going to be getting what she needs to straighten herself out.” I looked behind her as Matt walked up behind her, a car seat in his hand.

“Here,” he said, setting the seat on the floor and picking up Owen. He laid the baby in my arms and stepped back to his wife. “Say hi to your son Korklan,” he added. Joey kneeled down beside me and moved the blanket around a little so he could see the baby’s face better.

“He looks just like you,” I muttered, looking up at him.

“We can’t start doing that Mad…” he started to reply, but Big Matty stopped him.

“Val and I both agreed that it’ll be best if we tell him from the start that you’re his birth parents, which means that you can argue all you want about who he looks like, who he acts like more, everything.”

“Are you guys sure?”

“Absolutely,” Val replied, sitting down next to me. “He needs to know his birth parents after all.”

“Like he’s going to know who his Uncle Jimmy was,” Joey spoke up.

“That’s a given,” Big Matty smirked. “All the kids are going to know about Uncle Jimmy, we can’t not let them know.”

“Why do I get the feeling that if he was here, I wouldn’t be after what I did to Maddy?” Matt asked, looking around at everyone.

“Because you wouldn’t have been. Jimmy had two sisters, he considered Madison his third sister,” Brian explained. “Anything happened to her, he would get pissed, and he would go ape shit on whoever hurt her. Believe me, I’ve gotten my ass kicked quite a few times by him for something I did to her.”

I sat and listened to them talking about Jimmy. They shared some of their favorite memories of him to Matt while I watched Owen fall asleep in my arms. I couldn’t help but feel the tears well up in my eyes as they talked about Matt and Val’s wedding and Jimmy’s joy over playing best man. I nudged Val and handed Owen to her, bringing my knees to my face and letting the tears fall.

“Maddy, what’s wrong?” Brian asked gently, so suddenly it actually made me jump.

“I miss him,” was all I needed to reply with. Val handed Owen to Joey and wrapped her arms around me, as did Big Matty and Brian.

“We know sis,” Brian said, kissing the top of my head that he could find. “He wasn’t upset with you, he knew you were busy, and he understood that what he was doing was wrong.

“I wasn’t here and the last thing I said to him was for him to stay out of my life. I didn’t mean permanently.” I said, sniffling. “I want him back.”

“Sis, we can’t bring him back,” Brian said gently. “But we can take you to see his grave whenever you want to.”

“I can’t go there,” I whispered. “I want Jimmy back, I can’t go there.”

“Madison, I don’t know how you’re feeling, but I do know losing him was hard on everyone.”

“Oh, and I almost forgot,” Brian spoke up suddenly. He walked into his old bedroom that Dad and Mom had kept up and returned a minute later. “He had a will Mad, and he left something for everyone. He left us a key to a safety deposit box, which had this in it.” Brian handed me a folded sheet of paper, and when I opened it, something gold fell into my lap. I picked it up and saw it was a chain with a pendant and a ring, but it wasn’t just any necklace or ring, it was the set that Jimmy promised to buy for me one year for my birthday.

Looking at the paper, I felt my heart breaking all over again as I read the words in the handwriting I knew so well.

“Madster, I’m sorry it took me so long to get this to you. I wanted it to be perfect for my little sister, and it never got to what I thought you deserved. I know you had your eyes on this for a long time, and I made it a point to get it for you. I don’t want you to be afraid of anything. I want you to remember this, I love you Madison Haner. You are my little sister, and always will be. I love you and I want you to remember that foREVer, Love your brother, Jimmy.”

The letter fell from my hands as I looked at the jewelry in my hands. The ring was gold in the shape of a butterfly with a small diamond at the top of his head. The necklace is what sold me though. It was a simple gold chain, with a gold pendant that simply said “Love you.” Two little words that had so many meaning for me.

“I love you too Jimmy,” I whispered, hugging the items to my chest.

“In his will, he said that if it was to be read before he could give it to you, to make absolutely sure we give them to you.” Big Matty said as Owen started whining. Val stood up and took the baby from Joey, walking down the stairs probably to feed him.

“Here,” Brian said, taking the necklace from my hands. He placed it around my neck and locked it in place. Dad took the ring and placed it on my ring finger on my right hand. It was a perfect fit.

“Now you have him with you wherever you go,” Dad smiled. I nodded and pressed the necklace to my chest, feeling the love from Jimmy passing through it.

“I love you too Jim,” I whispered a final time.