On To Round 2
Following Climax Control
Barbados
‘Just like riding a bike.’
That’s what Laura said to herself once she got the pin for her and Mac Bane’s victory on Climax Control. It felt like people were honestly shocked about how her and the former SCW Champ worked together as a team but at the end of the match, what counted, is they did just that.
So now what?
They waited to see what Round 2 would bring.
Once they got to the back, she was greeted and engulfed by a hug from her oldest, Bella who was just about to crest the 21 week spot. Her baby, carrying her first grandchild...correction...granddaughter.
“You looked great out there!” Bella exclaimed brightly, before pulling back and nodding at Mac, “You both did.”
“I guess two vets of the business do this stuff long enough and something magical happens.” Laura smiled, “I will say it was wonderful, I never worked in a 6-sided ring until then...minus you know getting that pre-show look but it was like nothing changed!”
Malachi who was standing behind his wife stepped up, “I will say that frog splash kind of surprised me. I didn’t know you had that in your repertoire.”
“Yeah! I was hoping for the good ole KTD for old time sake.” Bella pouted a bit.
That brought a laugh from Laura as she shrugged shyly, “Eh, who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks? Besides, I need to save something for the next rounds.”
“Your mother makes an excellent point, I have a feeling the next time around isn’t going to be...well...quite so easy. Eh, partner?” Mac Bane nodded to Laura with a knowing look.
“Nothing in this business ever is easy, as we both know,” Laura points between them with a knowing look, “But as long as it gets you back into that title picture and me with a whole new run? And well...What isn’t hard, isn’t always that fun.”
“And yet another excellent point.” as Mac nods in approval, “I’m going to let you catch up with your family here and we will definitely be in touch. Thanks for everything tonight, partner.”
Mac reaches out his hand and Laura gladly accepts the handshake, “Yes, and thank you. I’ll be seeing you soon.”
Mac begins to walk away and just before he turns the corner he hears Bella call out his name, he turns around to see her approach him with a genuine smile, “Hey, umm...I just wanted to say that I couldn’t have imagined a better tag partner for my mom.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah, I mean...there is some amazing talent on the men’s side of the Blast but I was genuinely concerned when she had decided to do this. She wouldn’t tell many people this but her having Aaron wasn’t the only reason she stepped away from all of this 5 years ago, there were other reasons.” Bella said looking rather uncomfortable for a moment speaking to the former champ, “But seeing you two out there, just now... I felt like I was worrying about absolutely nothing.”
“Well, your mother is extremely gifted in that ring and as much as we know about certain people trying to goad her into a fight...” Mac’s tone was light with an eyebrow raised.
“Exactly, but knowing you got her back and are protecting her as much as she is you...well I just wanted to say thank you for...you know...all of this and believing in her.”
“You are quite welcome, Ms. Bella.” Mac said before pointing at her baby bump, “You take care of that little one, she’s the next in the line of some amazing women.”
Bella just smiles, placing her hands on her bump as she watches Mac walk away. After a moment, she hears footsteps behind her and turns to notice her mother staring back and giving her a look, “What?” Bella said like she got caught doing something.
“What was that all about?” Laura asked as she crossed her arms in front of her, giving her that motherly look that knows that her daughter was up to something.
Bella smiles but just shakes her head and sighs, “Nothing really...I just...sorta thanked him for- for taking care of you. I worry, you know.”
“Elizabeth Marie, I know you worry. I think though, I’m in good hands with one hell of a partner. It’s nice to be able to say that about someone that isn’t Nick.” Laura laughed, “But don’t tell your dad I said that...we don’t need him trying to get himself killed in the ring again. God knows it took forever for me to be okay with him being back in the gym after his last match.”
“Oh. My. God. Is he seriously going to-” Bella said with her jaw practically dropping before Laura puts her hands up.
“No, trust me...he’s retired for good, but as we know this business never leaves us.” she says before looking around, “Okay, I keep hearing these amazing things about catering here...I’m starving and want to eat before I get changed.”
“Well then, allow me to point you to the most amazing double chocolate cake that has ever been made.” Bella said, linking her arms with her mom, “I just hope Fenris isn’t around because he’s now got the two of us competing for the sweets. And me being pregnant right now...”
“Oh that poor guy doesn’t stand a chance.”
A Piece of the Heart that I’m Missing
April 6th
New York
It was an unusually warm day in New York, especially for early April. It’s still early spring but being able to break out the sundresses, shorts and flip-flops on this day helped make this day a little easier.
Through the Trinity Cemetery where several generations of families were laid to rest, it had become tradition over the last 5 years for Laura, her sisters Cameron and Jenn and their big brother Michael and their father Jeffrey, all to make a special visit. But this year, she had to make the trip alone due to scheduling conflicts. Laura especially had to do the trip rather earlier than usual because she would eventually end up at the airport and on her way to Scotland.
But it felt like on this particular day her visit was rather important.
You see with Laura she always held the story about the reasons she walked away was indeed due to the fact that she ended up pregnant with Aaron. But if she wanted to be fully honest with herself, it’s what happened months prior to her finding out about that, that made the choice to leave that much simpler.
Wanda Grace O’Neil, the matriarch, had found out shortly after Christmas back in 2019 that she had cancer, and it was extremely advanced. Laura watched in awe as the woman that raised her and pushed her to be powerful, kept her head up high and was determined to fight it. Her mother went round after round after round of radiation. She watched her mother fight with everything she had, sometimes from afar. Laura was still working after all, in other promotions, plastering a smile on her face.
The morning of April 6th though, sticks fresh in Laura’s head. She received an early morning call that Nick heard, when he answered he jousted Laura out of her sleep and when her father told them to hurry to the house, it was pretty much a blur. Laura bee-lined to her mother’s side along with all her siblings standing there and the woman that she had many conflicts with but still loved with everything she had, still fighting...lost.
Laura’s loss of her mother sat hard with her. Even wrestling felt like going to the dentist office. There was no joy in it. Not anymore...at least not then.
But as the years pass, the pain of the loss gets easier. The meeting at her grave site twice a year, Wanda’s birthday and the anniversary of her passing, helped. The group would sit around and talk like they were updating each other and their mother about things going on.
But this year, Laura was by herself.
She would bring a blanket and kneel in front of it with 2 glasses of her mother’s favorite red wine in front of her.
“So, where do we start?” Laura said, getting comfy and grabbing her glass, “Well, you’re about to be a great-grandmother. Dad has already been planning on spoiling her absolutely rotten, of course. But he keeps griping that you would have been better at it. Bella and Mal are doing absolutely wonderful and I don’t know who is more excited that they are having a little girl, Bella or Mal.”
Laura said with a smile, “Aaron is getting so big and he’s doing wonderful in school. You would have really loved how much he loves to read. In fact, he keeps asking to go see Bella so he can read to her and his niece. Nick finally called it a career, not that he was given much of a choice but...well...”
She sighs, taking a sip of her wine, “I decided to give it all a shot again. Just got back from Barbados on Monday, only to get ready to go to Scotland today. It’s like nothing changed, mom. My passion for it came roaring back all over again and I actually had fun. And I admit, I had my trepidations about being a part of the Blast from the Past, I took a chance and well we had a successful first round. But as we got to this week, I got to thinking about you, and how you would’ve reacted.”
“I know you said you never understood this whole damn thing but even through the issues I had with dad you always pushed me to be true to myself and no matter what wrestling has been there.” Laura smiles sadly, “Somehow, in some way...but we all know that when we lost you it hurt so much that despite my best attempts, when Aaron came around it was easy to just not anymore.”
“I can’t do that to myself anymore, mom. I won’t do that to myself. Mac is depending on me, Bella watches with so much enthusiasm it’s like she’s a teenager again. But I have something to prove to myself as well, I need to know if I gave it my all once again...well...I don’t want the whole spotlight but a little bit would just be enough to make it all seem right again.” Laura grabs the other glass and tip it so the little that was inside pours out, “I need you to cheer me on too, from wherever the hell you are. I hope that you are just as proud of me now as you were then. And I do miss you, every single damn day. It sucks that you can’t be here to enjoy this, but that’s the selfish part of me.”
Laura lifts her glass before finishing it off, “To the strong-willed stubborn O’Neil women...who will never give up that fight.”
The Seriousness of the Moment
Eilean Mor, Scotland
“Since the twilight of the 20th century, people have flocked to this tiny little island among the Flannan Isles to see if they could solve the mystery of the 3 men that just vanished.” Laura Phoenix stood along the shoreline overlooking the rough seas below, “I remember as a kid, my grandmother, who was born in Northern Ireland before her family came to the United States, she told me the tale of this place. There were always stories of storms that no one saw or high winds that just weren’t there and the 3 men that were on rotation just vanished...no sign, no note...and no coat.”
“I mean, could it have been possible that storms clobbered these islands without anyone seeing them coming and thus ending the lives of those 3 men?” she shrugs, “It is very possible. We have recorded world-wide some amazing stories of storms that have ravaged one spot and then just moved on to not even rain a drop in another place in the next town or island over.”
A smirk grows on Laura’s lips, “A storm they never saw coming, seems oddly forthcoming for what is going on in the Blast from the Past tournament. I mean here you have two vets, but very similar in nature, not really sure if they could trust one another but still putting absolute faith in one another to get to a spot not many have had a chance to achieve.”
Laura spins around and begins to walk away from the cliffs, the breeze pushing her long blonde hair in front of her for a moment. She quickly pulls it away and puts it up in a messy bun, “Now that Mac and I find ourselves in the next round we find ourselves in an interesting situation. On Mac’s side, he has the opportunity to dethrone the newly crowned Internet Champion, Jack Washington and on my side of the coin we have the ever favorite Bobbie Dahl. One of the fun things about this, seeing the things that my daughter has gone through in her time in SCW and while I know the times changed and her and Artie took their time away- I hope that Bobbie doesn’t think that I am going to take a swing at the low hanging fruit. I have watched some amazing talent in my time in ALL shapes and sizes achieve some amazing things.”
“But at the same time, I’m not about to call it here in this tournament. I believe with my whole heart that there is something special truly going on here. I honestly and truly wish that it was anyone else but you two but the way I have seen past BFTP tournaments go, it doesn’t surprise me one little bit.” her head tilts to the side, “Sometimes the storms have to collide and one moves on, while the other dissipates into the nether. Sometimes championships have to switch hands so that the former can move on to bigger and better things. Sometimes, a little of the future has to meet up with the little of the past and sometimes the past catches up and has to put the future down...if only for a short period of time.”
“Do you get what I am saying here?”
Laura stands tall and brings her hands out to the side, “I gave up for so damn long because my past came to stop my future....it took me FIVE YEARS to get my shit straight, and during that time I have had to sit back and let others get the glory. I used to be the one that stole the glory like I was a thief in the night. I made a whole damn career out of overcoming size differences, age differences hell...I made a lot of men my own personal bitch because I got bored one Sunday and decided to put an entire company on its ear. And guess what, I paid for the mistakes...I never ran away from them. I confronted them. That’s what this whole damn thing is for me. It is a revelation that as much as it hurt at the time, as much as I left this business behind...it never left me. I am not done.”
Tucking her hands into her coat, Laura smiles gently, “So Bobbie, I look forward to the fight I know you are going to bring. You have a lot riding on your shoulders here and the pressure gets greater knowing that you could be partially responsible for what happens to Jack and that championship. Just like I sorta feel that pressure as well. But I need you to understand something, and I’m sure you are well aware of this knowing my daughter...but I am far from a push over. Despite the respect, I won’t hesitate to put a boot in your face, and it is nothing personal. For me this whole damn thing with Blast from the Past...and my time that I will spend in SCW after...it’s the one thing that saved me time and time again...this business from the time I left home to train to now. It’s MY business. And you are just in it.”
“I hope that neither of you are afraid of the storm that is coming. And don’t worry, there will be no disappearing acts here.”
