January 15
During the airing of Inception
“I’m pregnant.”
Even though he had seen the paper with his own eyes, hearing Bella say it out loud hit him like a punch to the chest. All the air felt like it had been squeezed out of his lungs and his heart thundered in his ears. He just stared at the paper with wide eyes, barely hearing the conversation around him. But when he heard a sob from Bella, he immediately turned to her and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into his chest.
“Hey, shhh…we did it, love. You’re going to be a mommy.” When the words left his mouth, it was like the world snapped back into focus, and he glanced around at the faces of Mark Ward, Christian Underwood and the unfortunately named Dr. Al Koholik. They were all smiling at the couple (though the doctor’s was a little more vacant). He felt Bella pull away from his chest and she looked up at the two SCW co-owners, her lashes wet with the happy tears she had shed.
“But…what about -”
Christian put up his hands with the palms facing out in a placating gesture. “Don’t even worry about anything else right now.”
Bella gave a little sniffle, turning back to Mal with the brightest smile across her face. “We did it.”
He couldn’t help but smile back at her as he gently wiped away the tears on her cheeks with his thumbs, and soon the three men were taking their leave of the room while the couple happily embraced. Once they had time for the news to fully sink in, they decided to take their leave of the arena, seeing as they had nothing else to do for the rest of the show and head back to their hotel to celebrate the good news.
—--------
The next morning
Opening his eyes the next morning, Mal felt like something was off. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but somehow he felt like his usual morning routine was altered somehow. When he rolled over in the hotel bed to check the time, he realized that he had slept in far later than he usually did. Most days, he was up by about 6 a.m. for a run and a quick workout, but a glance at his phone showed that it was 9:15. The sun was already high in the sky, streaming through the curtains and across the bed. It took his sleep-addled brain a moment to catch up…and then he remembered the events of last night.
His gaze fell to the nightstand, where the folder that the doctor had handed them last night rested. He sat up slowly, careful not to stir too much and reached over for the folder. Flipping it open in his hands, he looked down at the typed sheet as the smile on his face grew. There was a lot of medical jargon that he couldn’t decipher for the life of him, but his eyes zeroed in on the one phrase that mattered most…
‘Patient’s blood test results indicate a likely possibility of pregnancy.’
There it was. The result that they had been praying for all these months. Starting back in June last year, when they made the first important step of their journey to becoming a family, through the countless negative pregnancy tests, to the consultation with the fertility doctor and Bella having to start treatments…it had all been worth it.
They were finally going to have a baby.
He glanced over a few more phrases that he could actually read, noting that the medical team estimated her to be about nine weeks along at this point. He chuckled slightly to himself, knowing that meant that Bella had been pregnant at Christmas the whole time. But then he frowned slightly as a thought occurred to him…if she had been pregnant for two months now, why did all the pregnancy tests show up negative? Bella had been taking a test almost every single day, just so that she wouldn’t miss it. He made a mental note to ask Dr. Hilland if there was a specific reason for that. It didn’t make any sense to him, but then again he had never been in this situation before.
He felt movement next to him, and glanced over to see Bella lying awake next to him, her blue eyes staring at him with so much love and warmth and a soft smile on her face. He smiled back and leaned down to give her a kiss. “Morning, mama.”
She giggled a bit as she sat up beside him, leaning her head on his shoulder. “I still can’t believe it. I was so afraid it was all just a dream. You know how vivid my dreams can be sometimes.”
“Like the one you had about me leaving you?”
She frowned a bit and snuggled closer to him, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist. “Why did you have to remind me of that one? I literally woke up in tears from that!”
“I’m sorry, mo chroí.” He leaned down to kiss her again. “But this was no dream.” He tapped the folder in his lap. “It’s 100% real.”
She reached over to lift the paper out, her eyes misting over as she read it. “It really is. We’re going to have a baby.”
He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her tightly against his chest. “You have no idea how much I am in love with you right now. I didn’t think it was humanly possible to love you more than I already do, but knowing now that you’re carrying our child…”
He could see the pink flush starting at the tops of her cheekbones as she buried her face in his chest. “Maaaaaal…”
“I’m serious. That day at Mattie’s studio when I told you that no matter what you look like, what kind of crazy cravings you get or any other wild surprises this pregnancy will throw at us, I will love you more and more.” He reached down and put a hand on her stomach, and she put her own hand on top of his. “And once this little one arrives, our home is going to be so full of love and laughter.”
She stared down at their hands over her stomach, and then looked back up at him with more tears in her eyes. “I love you so much, Malachi.”
“And I love you even more, mo fhíorghrá.[/i]”
—----------
January 25
Manhattan, New York
“I’m baaaaaack.”
The smug grin on Malachi’s face greeted the viewers as the scene opened up on the rooftop patio of his New York townhome. A thick layer of fluffy white snow blanketed the normally lushly landscaped terrace, but the current weather didn’t bother the Irishman one bit as he slid his hands into the pockets of his dark blue wool coat. The sky was a steely grey colour with low hanging clouds that were threatening more snow, but for the moment the flurries stayed up in the atmosphere as Mal paced a few steps, the snow crunching underneath his boots.
“I’m sure there’s many of you that may be less than thrilled by that statement, but in all honesty I couldn’t care less. I didn’t get to where I am in this business by giving a rat’s arse about what anyone else thinks of me, and I’m not about to start now. The thing is, I’ve got some unfinished business in this company, and I’m coming to collect on a few IOU’s. At Inception when I announced my return, I made it crystal clear that I was coming for titles, and I was not bluffing. It’s been far too long since I’ve held gold, and I plan on remedying that fact sooner rather than later.”
“But just because I am supremely confident in my abilities - some might say to the point of arrogance - doesn’t mean that I’m going to stroll back into the company and just demand title shots left, right and centre. Maybe last year, I might have. But I’ve had some time to reflect, and while I watched Bella work her way up to the Bombshell Roulette title, insisting that she start from the bottom and put the work in to earn her way to the top, I realized that if I wanted to be taken seriously this time around, that was going to be the route I needed to take. I need to show everyone who’s got eyes on this company that I’m the future of not only SCW, but of professional wrestling. I’m ready to put the work in, to do whatever I need to do to make it to the top of this company.”
He held up a finger. “But let’s get one thing straight - just because I’ve done a little bit of introspection and self-reflection does not mean that I’ve become any less dangerous in the ring. I’m still pound for pound the toughest son of a bitch to ever step between the ropes of an SCW ring. And now that I’ve got goals in sight…” The smirk on his face turned almost sinister as his blue eyes glinted with intensity. “I’m about to be unstoppable.”
“First up on my comeback tour, we’ve got Alex Rush. A sort of…interesting character, to put it mildly. The guy had some middling successes in SCU before it shuttered for good, and from what I can gather he’s been more of a pop-up player in SCW. Only put in matches to help fill out a card.” Mal shook his head slightly. “Now, the old me probably would have scoffed at this match, called it nothing more than a waste of my time. But I see it as a chance to ease back in. Test the waters, so to speak. I don’t want to spend all my energy right out of the gate, after all. I’m built for stamina. I’m ready to go the distance in this company. Now, does that mean that I’m underestimating Alex in this?” He gave a shrug of his shoulders. “I can’t really say that he’s got a resume that impresses me. Sure, he’s a title holder. But that was back in a now defunct branch of the company. Once he got called up here…well, can’t really say he’s done much of anything noteworthy.”
“But don’t think for one second that I’m not preparing for this match any differently. If anything, I’m going even harder. This is the first time I’ll have been in an SCW ring in months, and I’m all about leaving a lasting impression. Namely, my boot print across Alex’s face.” He snickered a little. “I’m coming back to make a big impact, and nothing less than starting my comeback with a win is going to be good enough. So Alex, I’d say I hope you’re ready for what I’m bringing to you on Sunday night…but let’s be honest. You’re not.”
