Keep You

~POV: Riley~
Walking into the living room, I couldn’t help but glance at the picture on the mantle of my father.

“Daddy, I miss you,” I muttered, grabbing the picture and sitting on the couch. “Chasey and Gunner miss you. Sara’s been making sure Gracie knows who her father is, and I’ve been making sure my kids know their grandfather.” Tears clogged my throat as I thought of everything I wanted my father to know, things he would of wanted to know.

“Things are getting worse with Kylie dad, I have no idea what to do about her. I wish you were here, you could of helped us with her. I can’t ask Grandpa Wally, and he was the one I knew would know what to do with her.”

My grandparents from my mother both passed away recently. Right after I lost my father I lost them. It was safe to say that I went through a very dark depression for a long time.
My heart accelerated as I thought that through. I went through a heavy depression, meaning I neglected my family for a long time. I wouldn’t eat, wouldn’t get out of bed, I just stayed in the room all day, the blinds closed and the door shut, sleeping and crying. Kylie was about 8 when that happened, so she understood what was going on then.

I quickly placed the picture back on the mantle and ran up the stairs toward Kylie’s room. I heard music blaring from her stereo, some sort of pop song the teenage crowd was really into these days. I knocked on the door, gently but loudly. She turned her music down and opened the door. When she saw it was me, she rolled her eyes and went back into the room.

“Kylie,” I started saying.

“I’m not going to listen to you,” Kylie said as if warning me. “I didn’t get in trouble, so I’m not listening.”

“I’m just in here to tell you I’m sorry,” I replied, leaning against the door.

“Sorry, for what?” She asked sounding suspicious. I walked up to her and sat on her bed, grabbing her hands.

“When you were 8, after Will was born. Your grandfather died suddenly, then I had William, and then my grandparents passed away within weeks of each other.” I started.

“I know all of that,” Kylie said.

“I was depressed during that time. I neglected you, Will and your father, and I just didn’t want to deal with anything. I wanted to join my grandparents and father, not thinking about how much my own children needed me. I just wanted to say I’m sorry for it.”

“Why are you apologizing? I was eight, I barely remember that happening.” she replied, grabbing the magazine off of her bed.

“I just wanted to say that.” I mumbled. When she didn’t reply, I knew I lost her attention. I sighed and walked out of the room as Jeff walked up the stairs.

“What’s wrong?” Jeff asked when he saw me on the verge of tears. I just shook my head and went into our bedroom, laying down on my side of the bed and burying my face in the pillow. I felt the bed sink as Jeff sat down beside me.

“Riley honey, what’s the matter?” he asked me gently. I just shook my head, letting the tears fall free. He sighed and the bed rose as he stood up.

“You know what I think it’s time for?” he asked me suddenly. I looked up at him. He had a smile on his face and something in his hands.

“What?” I asked, sitting up and letting my legs dangle over the side.

“I think it’s time we told our daughter the truth about us.” he said. “Our pasts, and I mean the complete truth.”

“Like, everything?” I asked uncertainly. He nodded and waited for my response. I stood up and grabbed his hand, showing him I agreed with him.

“Let’s do it, we should tell Will to though,” I pointed out. Jeff nodded and we left the room. Jeff went to Kylie’s room while I went to Will’s room.

“Hey honey, your Dad and I want a family meeting in our bedroom,” I informed my son. He nodded, putting the book he was reading down. He followed me into the bedroom, where Jeff was already waiting with Kylie.

“I’m missed my show,” Kylie muttered.

“Ky, there’s a very important reason we brought the two of you in here,” Jeff replied, sitting on the bed in front of them. I sat on the other side beside Jeff. “There’s something we never told the two of you, because we didn’t want it to be a big deal, and now that you’re old enough to know, we think it’s time to tell you.”

“Your father and I met when we were seven,” I started. “My mother had just passed away, and I was heading to live here with my aunt and uncle, your grandma Mary and Grandpa Paul.”

“I found your mom at the end of our driveway,” Jeff continued. “She was alone, scared, and nearly about to crash, but she was nervous about decency, so she ran.”

“Does this have a point?” Kylie asked suddenly.

“We’ll get there,” I replied. “Years go by, and your father and I become each others best friends. He dated other girls, but I couldn’t date anyone because I cared to much for Jeff, and I had a feeling if given the chance, the two of us would get together.”

“So, you’re saying I could have had a different mother?” Kylie asked, the hopefulness in her eyes breaking my heart.

“No Kylie, if it wasn’t for your mother, you wouldn’t be here, now stop interrupting.” Jeff snapped. “I loved your mother, your mother loved me, but there was one thing we shared a mutual love for.” Jeff stood up and walked toward our TV, grabbing a VHS and putting it in the player. He pressed the play button and an image of my father as his persona, The Undertaker, came up on the screen.

“That’s The Undertaker!” William pointed out right away.

“He’s creepy,” Kylie muttered.

“He’s dead now,” Jeff informed both of them. “And he’s your grandfather Mark.”

“That’s Grandpa Mark?” Will asked, his eyes going wide. A second later, myself as The Phoenix showed up on the screen.

“That’s the one that looks like mom!” Will said to his father. I turned to Kylie, who was staring at me in costume as if she knew it was me.

“The reason why she looks like your Mom, Will, is because the Phoenix is your mother.” Jeff replied.

“That’s not Mom, no way.” Will replied, looking toward me. Without looking at the screen, I did the finishing pose I used for that particular night.

“Do something only she could of done.” Will demanded.

“I don’t know honey, I’m pretty out of shape,” I replied, before grabbing him and picking him up, placing him over my head for one of my old signature moves, the Fire Power. I didn’t do it to him fully, just enough for him to get the gist that I knew what I was doing. William giggled as I laid him on the bed gently.

“That’s so cool, my mom was a pro wrestler. Did she get you your job there Dad?” Will asked, turning to Jeff.

“No buddy, I got me the job there on talent.” he said. He nudged my arm and I nodded. We both stood up and I bent myself at the waist as Jeff took my head. He did a demonstration of the Twist of Fate, but ended up knocking me off balance slightly.

“Shit, sorry Riley,” he muttered, helping me up, but I was laughing to hard to respond.

“Me next!” Will said excitedly. “Wait, you were a wrestler too?” I looked over at Kylie, who was laying back on the bed, her eyes closed and music pounding from her headphones.

“Jeffrey,” I muttered, tapping his arm. He looked up and at Kylie, and shook his head gravely.

“Who else do we know was wrestlers?” Will asked.

“You uncle Matt, Uncle Shannon and Uncle Shane. Melina, Paul, Shawn. John Cena’s still there isn’t he?” Jeff asked me, but I was shivering uncontrollably, and it was starting to scare me. “Riley, are you okay?”

“Is it cold in here to you?” I asked him, rushing into the closet and grabbing a sweater. When I got back into the room, Jeff was out of the room.

“He went to go look at the temperature thingy,” Will told me. “He said you must be coming down with something.”

“I must be,” I muttered my agreement.

“Get in bed Riley, it’s 78 degrees in this house.” he walked up to me and placed his hand on my forehead and face. “Yeah you have a fever honey. Get in bed and I’ll bring you up something.”

“I’m fine,” I muttered. “Just chills and a fever..” my speech was cut off as I felt bile hit the back of my throat.

“Yeah, fine,” Jeff replied sarcastically as he held my hair back. “Get in bed, I’ll bring you up some soup.”

“Fine,” I replied, dragging my feet across the floor and toward the bed.

“Kylie, get up.” Jeff said to our daughter. She didn’t budge. Will crawled across the bed and pulled out her headphones.

“Get away from me creep,” she said, starting to put the ear buds back in her ears.

“Kylie, up now,” Jeff said before the other went in.

“Why? I thought we were having a family meeting.” She muttered.

“Not to much a family meeting if one fourth of the family is listening to music Lee,” he replied. “Now get up so your mother can lay down. She’s sick.”

“Oh, poor mommy,” Kylie replied, rolling her eyes. “Geez, it’s not like she’s not always sick. She’s sick more than everyone I know combined.”

“Well, she has a week immune system, so stop whining before I give you cheese to go with it.”

“You two are so weird,” she muttered as she left the room. I laughed at Jeff as he helped me lay down. “You did not really just say that.”

“I did, gotta problem with it?” he replied, waggling his eyebrows at me.

“That saying’s older than we are,” I reminded him. “You’re showing our age.”

“Hey, I heard Christian say it once before, so it’s still pretty hip.” Jeff replied. I looked over at Will, who had his face covered with his hand.

“Jeff, your embarrassing your son,” I pointed out. Jeff looked over to William and chuckled.

“Sorry champ,” Jeff replied. Will’s head snapped up at the nickname his father called him since he was born.

“Have you ever been a champion?” he asked, looking at the two of us.

“I was Women’s Champion once.” I answered as Jeff covered my body with the comforter.

“Let’s see, I’m a 4 time Intercontinental Champion, I’ve been WCW Tag Team Champion with your Uncle Matt. One time WWD Light Heavyweight Champion, one time European Champion, 3 time Hardcore Champion, I was a 6 time World Tag Team Champion with Matt. The WWE Champion Once, and World Heavyweight Champion twice.”

“You was World Heavyweight twice?” Will asked amazed.

“Yeah well, I had it for probably 3 minutes then someone came out and took it from me.” Jeff said with a shrug. The second time I had it a little longer.”

“Still two time champion, that’s awesome.” Will’s face then brightened and he clapped his hands. “Can I tell Tommy?”

“I guess you can, but it’s hard to tell if he’ll believe you or not,” I answered him.

“He will,” Will replied confidently. He ran out of the room and a minute later we heard his door shut.

“You know we just made him the happiest boy in the world?” I asked Jeff as he stood up from the bed.

“I know, Kylie, on the other hand,”

“Was being Kylie,” I replied, grabbing Jeff’s hand.

“I’ll go get you some soup or something.” Jeff said, kissing my hand.

“I’m fine, honestly, I just want to sleep a little,” I told him, burying myself beneath the covers. He nodded and leaned down and kissed my forehead.

“I love you, get some rest.” He whispered into my hair. I smiled as I watched him walk from the room. I laid and thought about everything that’s been going on, and I ended up drifting off to sleep.