[Despayre]

 The 2015 Bugatti Veyron pulled up into the smooth pavement that served as the drive to the home that housed Synn and Despayre in their hometown of Las Vegas, Nevada. Once the engine is shut off, the driver's door opened and out stepped the familiar form of former two-time SCW World Heavyweight Champion, Gabriel. Despite his retired status, Gabriel was forever seen as a member of this team, and as a part of the pseudo family that it compromised. As such, he was well aware that he was welcome to stop by any time of day, on any day of the week, for whatever reasons might fill his head or heart. If he had a problem, he knew he could talk to Synn for some advice from the man he saw as a father figure. If he was depressed for whatever reason, he knew even the shortest amount of time with his 'little brother' Despayre would almost assuredly lift his spirits and make a dark cloud into a silver lining. The "little nutter" as Shane Boswell often called him just had that way about him.

Still, at this almost noon hour, Gabriel had come for neither of those things. Not really anyway. This was more of a social call as it were. Locking the car's state of the art security system behind him, Gabriel made his way toward the front porch. Sometimes he privately wondered why he bothered locking the car when Despayre might soon be a passenger. The little guy had this way about him, an ability to by-pass even the most secure locks as if they were little more than the average padlock. Stepping up onto the porch, Gabriel jammed his thumb to the door bell, causing soft chimes of toll bells to ring from within the manor, then followed up by rapping his knuckles sharply on the wooden surface of the front door.

Of course Gabriel was family, and Synn had long ago gifted him with a key to the front door in which to let himself in without ceremony. He was welcome, as was his wife who was not at his side this time. Only Gabriel preferred not to do so. He would often joke he shuddered to think what he would walk into a house where Synn called home, especially if Chris Shipman also happened to be in attendance at the time. But the truth was he simply saw it as a matter of respect to those that called this house their home; Synn, Despayre, and of course, Theresa. (And Angel! You can't forget Angel!) If it was an emergency, he might see himself using the key to allow himself in, but he'd prefer to do so rarely and not take advantage of such trust.

Soon enough, he heard the lock of the door being unlatched and it was opened to reveal the aforementioned Theresa Aguilera once again in her housekeeping uniform, back to work following her recent open heart surgery. Smiling at the sight of the live-in housekeeper and yes, also a member of this somewhat dysfunctional family, Gabriel leaned on the door frame with his hands and winked.

"Hey babe." He said with a coy lilt in his voice. "I was going to ask if the boss of the house was home, but she just answered the door."

Theresa snorted back a bout of unladylike laughter, and stepped aside to allow the man entrance. Wiping his feet on the doormat (not wanting this woman to chase him with a mop for dirtying her clean floors -- again), Gabriel walked past her and set foot into the foyer.

"Boss man putting you back to work, I see." He quietly observed, turning to her. "I take it you're recovered completely."

"I'm afraid I didn't give her much choice." The deep baritone voice that belonged to Synn drew their attention to the far hall where the leader of this family emerged from. hands deep in the pockets of his slacks, he approached, "It was either I let her return to work, or she force me to wash my own socks."

"Christ, nobody wants to go near those things." Gabriel joked. "Despy even told me Angel was afraid of tackling those things."

Synn shook his head at the joke at his expense, but played along and asked, "He did, did he?"

"Mm." Gabriel nodded. "Speaking of, where is the little bugger? He didn't come racing downstairs to greet me and I was going to invite him out."

"Upstairs, I imagine." Synn answered. "Putting a dent in that anime series "Tactics that you got for him off of EBay. Oh, and I believe Angel might be giving him a strategy session or two."

Gabriel frowned, "Strategy session? What for? He finally get a rematch with Jackson?"

"No," Synn shook his head. "Jackson is still refusing to compete until he gets Raab in a match. No, Ward signed Joshua to go up against Kris Halc, of all people."

Gabriel scoffed, "Wow. Beating a dead horse, or what? Despy already tore that guy into ground beef."

Synn smiled, a note of pride in his face as well as voice, "Yes, and now the powers-that-be are making them face each other again to see which of the former champions gets first crack at Jackson in a title match."

Gabriel stared hard at Synn, hardly believing his ears. "You're shitting me." He said. "Despy just lost the damn title and they're making him fight the bum that ran away and avoiding touring to see who deserves the shot first?"

Synn just held up his hands, having nothing to say on the matter itself to make things any better. Shaking his head in disbelief, before he turned and started jogging upstairs, going after his little brother.

<HR>

"So do you think dad suspects anything?"

Gabriel had arrived at the top of the stairs and had just about brought himself to rap on Despayre's bedroom door when he overheard the question emanate from within. Every so often one of the men or women involved in the Sins would be privy to these random one-sided conversations Despayre had with the teddy bear, Angel, and oh how often they wished they could hear both sides, or whatever was going through Despayre's head as far as Angel's part of the chat. It wasn't so much Gabriel found himself amused at possibly bearing witness to another of these little "talks". It was the question itself that drew him up short, and kept him from alerting Despy to his presence.

Inside of the spacious bedroom that was moderately furnished in everything save for the entertainment of the occupant(s) inside, Despayre was laying down on the bed, on his right side and his eyes on Angel who was propped up to look him in the eye while they talked. It was only polite, you know! An episode of the aforementioned anime series was on the plasma television, but Despayre had hit the pause button so he wouldn't miss anything that happened on-screen. When Angel wanted to talk, it was always best to give him your full and undivided attention.

What he had to say was always that important!

Despayre rolled over onto his stomach and smiled at Angel while he kicked his stocking feet idly, propping him chin in the cups of his joined palms.

Despayre said quietly, "Yeah, but if dad ever found out we lost on purpose, he would be very cross."

From outside of the bedroom, Gabriel frowned at what he had just overheard. Mouthing the very same words he had heard -- "Lost on purpose?" Did he really just hear Despayre say that he had lost to Sean Jackson intentionally?

Inside of the bedroom, Despayre smooshed his cheeks in his clenched hands and nodded. "Yeah!" He nodded to Angel, agreeing with whatever the teddy bear had just told him. "I think he would too! Even if he knew that it was all a part of your Master Plan! Dad is a smart guy but he might not understand what you have in mind."

Tracing an outline on the pattern of the bed's lush comforter with his fingertip, Despayre asked his silent confidante, "Do you think Gabriel would understand?"

Gabriel drew his head back on the outside of the bedroom door. It wasn't that often he could witness Despayre having a talk (with anybody) where his name came up for him to hear.

"How come?" Despayre asked the teddy bear. "He doesn't like Sean Jackson either, so you'd think he'd... oh. Okay that much makes sense. Not liking Sean would make him not like us losing on porpoise, huh?"

Despayre nodded and then helped turn his friend around to face the television once again, their talk having concluded. "Okay, I'll do what you think best. Gabriel doesn't hafta know." And with his hand, he grasped the remote at hand to turn the DVD back on, when on the outside, Gabriel had heard enough and reached up to knock on the door...

*knock!* *knock!*

"Despy?" Gabriel called out to be heard through the door. "You in there?" No reason for the time being to let the little guy know that his confession had been overheard. At least, not yet.

Despayre's head shot up at the sound of the voice, and his face was alight with the joy he always felt deep inside whenever Gabriel was around.

"It's Gabriel!" Gabriel heard exclaimed from inside of the bedroom. "Gabriel's here!"

Before Gabriel could open the door, as he knew he was even more welcome to set foot inside of Despayre's bedroom than the house as a whole, the bedroom door opened slightly ajar, seemingly of its own accord. Gabriel expected to see Despayre peeking through the crack, but somehow his gaze was drawn down to spot the face of Angel peering up at him.

Smirking, despite his disappointment at what he had overheard, Gabriel thought he could play along and he saluted the teddy bear and said, "Hey Angel. Can I talk to Despy there for a sec?"

The face of the teddy bar drew back and after a brief moment, the bedroom door was flung open and before Gabriel could brace himself, he was greeted by his little brother's usual enthusiastic greeting!

"Gabriel! HI!"

"Heya Despy!" Gabriel patted him on the back before they separated and Gabriel held a hand out toward Angel and asked, "What's with the added security there?"

"Oh, sorry!" Despayre moaned mournfully. "But ever since the Bogey Man came back to SCW with that witchy woman, Angel's insisted on extra precautions. Just in case."

"Very sensible, Angel." Gabriel knew it give the teddy bear its just due where Despayre was concerned, and the puffing out of the little guy's chest showed he appreciated the praise for his beastie, er, bestie.

Despayre held Angel close to his chest and smiled while he asked, "So! What brings you all the way out here?"

"All the way...?" Gabriel mused, despite himself. "I just like halfway across town buddy. But to answer your question, the little missus is hanging out with a few friends and has the baby, and wouldn't you know? I got a craving for that Panda Express so I..."

"Race you downstairs!" Despayre suddenly cried out in delight, and would have made it for the steps had Gabriel not caught him by the bend of the elbow and reeled him back in. He knew very well Despayre's voracious appetite for all things Panda Express. The young man really loved that fast food Chinese place, and the fact he could sit down with Gabriel (and Angel!) just doubled the pleasure of the lunch prospect.

"Hold on there Despy!" Gabriel called out. "Before we go anywhere, I have to have a little chin wag with your da."

Despayre tilted his head to the side and blinked, "Que?"

"Chat, Despy." Gabriel emphasized. "Gonna have a chat wit' your da."

"Ohhhhh!" Despayre nodded knowingly. "I'm sorry I didn't get that. I'm Canadian American so I don't speak English."

Gabriel smiled and just patted him on the shoulder. He said, "I'll try to be more clear next time."

"That'd be great!" Despayre's face then lit up with an idea. "Say! If you're going to wag on dad's chin, that'll gimme time to run over to Missus O'Heaney's and see how she is!"

"Er, Missus...?" Gabriel frowned, knowing full well the animosity that existed between the mean old woman neighbor of theirs and his little brother. "You sure you want to? I mean..."

"Of course!" He chirped. "I promised her I'd stop in to see her after San Juan but I haven't had a chance yet! I'm a man of my word, after all."

"Well alright." Gabriel relented. "If you're sure, just try and be nice to the old woman, okay?"

Despayre looked absolutely affronted as he protested, "I'm always nice!"

Gabriel tilted his head forward and a twinkle in his eye knew full well just how much mischief Despayre could get into when he put his mind to it. "Oh yeah?" He questioned. "How about that time you stretched Seran Wrap over her door and made her dog take that tumble?"

Despayre reasoned with his face the picture of innocence. "Oh sure! Things always seem worse when you remember the facts! And besides...!" He reasoned. "You said to be nice to her. Never said anything about that dumb dog."

"True." Gabriel agreed, and released his arm. "Okay, go to it. If I finish first, I'll track ya down."

"Cool beans!" Despayre shouted out as he took off out of his bedroom and raced for the stairs, with Gabriel calling after him...

"Make sure to get yer coat on! It's monkeys outside!"

"No foolin'!?"

Gabriel arrived at the bottom of the steps just in time for the front door to slam closed, and Synn stepping out into the hall, motioning toward the now closed door and direction his son had just taken off.

"Please tell me he's not going where I think he is?"

Just then, the door swung back open and Despayre stuck his head back inside, "Hey there's no monkeys out here!" Jetting out his bottom lip in a classic pout, Despayre stepped back out, slamming the door behind him.

<HR>

"Your regularly scheduled Despayre promo will continue after this brief commercial interruption..."

"I told Despayre that this would happen, and as usual, I was right. No, as you may have guessed, this is not Synn doing the shoot work like usual. It would appear he did some damage to his throat after a sleep over with Shipman, although I'm still unsure as to how. Maybe they were singing karaoke or something -- I know I heard a few loud shouts, but I digress!"

"Kris Halc hasn't been seen around Sin City Wrestling in a number of months, not counting his so-called return match last week against Gavin Stephens. Actually his last competitive match was the one where my Despayre upended him for the SCW Internet Championship. After that, woosh! Kris vanished from the wrestling scene and only made sporadic appearances on social media, declaring the reasons he vanished was because he simply did not want to take part in the world tour SCW was and is, embarking on. Ah! But was that the case? Was he really avoiding long traveling hours, or was it something else? or rather, someone,else?"

"You see it was my personal opinion that after all the false bravado that Halc shoved down everyone's throats about Despayre and how he'd never win the Internet title, he was simply too embarrassed to show his face in front of fans and his peers, because let's face it! Despayre pretty much took him apart when he won the championship! And of course during Despayre's reign, there was Halc on Twitter, running his mouth where he was safe and sound and Despayre didn't know where he was so he couldn't get close to him. Oh Kris told everyone that he was around and if Despayre wanted a piece of him, he knew where to find him. Except he never really did give out any specific location -- not that Despayre would sink to the level of hunting him down. "Ad when Despayre 'lost' the Internet title, well what did Kris do? He again ran his mouth like a blender on crack, talking as if it would have been only a matter of time before he would have returned to strip the belt from Despayre himself. HA!"

"See, I told Despayre to just bide his time and his patience would pay off. And here we are! Though even I'm stumped as to why this is a Number One Challenger's match. In my own humble opinion, Kris Halc forfeited the right to a chance at regaining the title when he refused to go on the road ... or ship ... or jet ... you know what I mean! If anyone deserves to face Sean Jackson for the Internet Championship, it should be Despayre! Not that he necessarily wants to do so, but you get my point. And if Despayre has to go through Kris Halc, you know, AGAIN in order to prove his own point, well then that's exactly what he's going to do!"

"I'm certain that Halc will walk into that ring, all sure of himself and full of poop, er, pomp and circumstance, but in the end, the only celebration that'll be had will be on Despayre's side when he goes two and zero against the man he already proved himself against. Despayre may not have won inside of a steel cage against Sean Jackson, but even that nut ball can't deny the fact Despayre took the fight to him and if you want to get technical, Jackson lucked out. But they're not in a cage this time, are you Kris? No! You're in a regular wrestling ring, one of which Despayre has rang up a bunch of wins left and right against the best SCW has to offer. And if he can take the fight to that level inside of a cage, just imagine what he can do to you in a normal environment."

"Despayre can and will run circles around you Halc. He can take to the air and fly like he had wings. He can wrestle with you if you press him, and if you want, and I feel bad for you if you do, he can fight and match you tooth for claw. You got a taste of how rabid he can fight when backed into a corner once. Are you sure you want to go through that again? I don't know if even Lloyds of London would carry insurance for such a grievous error in poor judgement!"

"Some might call this a rematch of sorts, but not me. I prefer to think of it as a rerun -- because the end will always be the same."

"Oh! We now return to your program already in progress..."

<HR>

"HellLlOoO!" The loud call came, along with an even louder bang of the front door of the neighbor's house as Despayre invited himself in, pushing the door wide open with a flourish. Such was this young man's nature when he felt close to someone, or perhaps having made a new friend -- or in the cases of Missus O'Heaney -- 'frienemy'. He just felt 'welcome' in their life -- whether he was in fact or not. The fact that her front door was locked was a trifle, but it did bring to question also why the elderly woman had not contacted the neighborhood watch or police to his entering her home in such a way.

Despayre happily skipped inside of the house to find his neighbor, but was greeted by a loud bark and the clacking of nails on the hard wood floor. The home's guard dog, a large German Shepard came racing in to confront whoever just entered his home, and came to a screeching halt once the pooch saw who it was exactly. That was when the dog uttered a soft whine and turned around and raced off in the opposite direction, much to Despayre's confusion. He walked off in the same direction, going right past Missus O'Heaney who was seated in her front room as she usually was, and she watched as he walked off into the interior of her house to check on her pet. A moment later, Despayre came walking back, shaking his head in faux dismay.

"Boy that's some attack dog you have!" Despayre declared. "He hid under your kitchen table, peed on the floor and ran out the back door!"

Missus O'Heaney's face flushed at the information, and she quickly hid a smile that had damn near fund it's way to her ever-present sour disposition. of course, it seemed a natural response from the canine, considering a few months ago Despayre had responded to thee dog attempting to bite him by simply biting the dog right back.

"Well it's hardly surprising, considering you bit the poor animal!" Missus O'Heaney argued. "And didn't anyone ever teach you to knock before entering someone else's home!?"

Despayre stood before her, momentarily chastised for his usual impulsive actions. he fidgeted and clasped his hands tightly together, his fingers interwoven and head down trodden. He shifted briefly from foot to foot and then turned around, hiding his face from her when something in her made her decide to ask, "What did you need?"

This question gave Despayre enough pause to turn around and raise his head to look at her. His eyes were red rimmed and thee dusty trail of a tear stain ran down his cheek. His usual reaction whenever he was scolded, an action he was not accustomed to. He took a moment to collect himself before he drew in a somewhat shaky breath and answered, "I promised I'd come visit if it was okay. You said you'd be here."

Missus O'Heaney answered back, "You said that weeks ago. I thought you'd decided not to." She then half muttered, "Just like everyone else."

Whether Despayre heard the last or not remained unclear. He did however shake his head in denial and he said, "I'm sorry. I really am! I meant to come sooner but dad said I should leave you alone for awhile."

The old woman said tartly, "I should think I can decide for myself whether I need to be left alone or not!"

Despayre shrugged, "Plus he thought I needed lots of recovery time after I got knocked silly on that show I was in."

"I take it then that you didn't win and avenge that teddy bear of yours?" She mused, curling her arthritic hand under her chin.

"Oh I avenged Angel alright!" Despayre declared. "But no. I didn't win." His face then brightened as he asked, "Did you watch??"

"Now why would I want to do such a silly thing?" Missus O'Heaney frowned, drawing herself up against the back of her chair and reached for her cup of tea. before she could, Despayre hurriedly got it for her and handed it over to where she snatched it from him. She finished by saying, "I don't watch such things. I watch the news and that's all."

"Oh." Despayre said, sighing. He supposed it had been too much to expect. He then smiled as he reached inside of his jacket pocket."Oh but I did bring you a present!"

The elderly woman watched as he withdrew a framed 8X10 color picture of himself and Angel, used in SCW merchandising. It was autographed in purple crayon (of course!), and had a paw print signature for you-know-who (again, of course!). Despayre happily placed the picture front and center on her mantle, right beside the picture she had showed him previously of her dearly departed husband.

"There!" He happily declared. Pretty as a picture!" And he bounded over to the small sofa in front of her own chair and had a seat, even without an invitation. He kicked his feet idly, and said, "So! I was hoping you'd tell me about all those." he motioned towards all of the framed photographs on the walls of her living room.

"What about them?" Missus O'Heaney asked, a faint trace of hesitation in her otherwise strong voice.

"Well who is that in the pictures silly!" Despayre questioned. "She's very pretty, whoever she is."

"That's me!" Missus O'Heaney retorted.

Despayre blinked, then looked over at all of the pictures, scanning them with his eyes, then back at her. Then back at the pictures, then back at her.

"No way!"

"Yeah, afraid so." She stated, her chest swelling with just a hint of pride. "Those were some of my publicity photos."

"Publicity photos for what?"

She answered, "Well you're not the only one who's been in show business, kid! I was an actress in the fifties."

Despayre's face lit up and he smiled, "Really!?"

"Really. Mostly on stage but I did a film or two." She shook her head. "Never would do television. Never did like the prospect."

"What was it like acting back in the old days?" Despayre asked, and the use of the term 'old days' drew another frown from the neighbor, even though that was about as easy to do as besting a pig in a game of chess.

"Harder than it is today, I'm sure!" She declared. "And there was a lot more pride in your work back then compared to the tripe they shove down people's throats these days!"

"Can I have your autograph?" Despayre smiled hopefully, shoving his fists deep between his knees. A subconscious act on his part whenever he was tense or excited.

"Heavens, no!" Missus O'Heaney declared hotly. "I gave up on such silly notions decades ago!" She then looked at the crestfallen expression on his face at having been denied and she sighed and retracted her words by saying, "Maybe another time." She glanced up and reiterated, "Maybe."

Satisfied for the time being, Despayre flopped back against the cushions of the sofa to continue the chat when there was a ringing of the doorbell.

"Oh for the love of... Missus O'Heaney rolled her eyes and then called out, "Who is it!?"

"It's prolly Gabriel." Despayre answered, jumping up to answer it. "He said he'd be by to pick me up for lunch!"

Despayre hurried over to the front door to answer it, not seeing the flickering of disappointment on the old woman's face. A moment later, Gabriel found himself being dragged into the front room by the wrist in order to be properly introduced.

"Missus O'Heaney, this is my bestest friend Gabriel!" Despayre motioned from one to the other. "Gabriel, this is..."

"I think we got the gist." Missus O'Heaney huffed at someone else having entered her home without invitation. Gabriel, in turn, paid due respect by silently nodding toward his elder.

"Gabriel's taking me to Panda Express!" Despayre hopped on the balls of his feet. "You wanna come!?"

"Uh, Despy..." Gabriel started to say at the same time Missus O'Heaney answered, "I'll pass."

"Okay." Despayre nodded, picking up his jacket and passing Angel to Gabriel to hold while he slipped his garment back on. "Maybe next time you can tell me more about acting?" He looked to Gabriel and said matter-of-factly, "Missus O'Heaney was an actress in the 1850's!"

"1950's!" She answered back hotly, correcting him.

"Really!" Gabriel nodded. "That's really ... interesting." He then patted Despayre's shoulder and said, "Okay Despy, we should get going."

Despayre nodded, "Okay!" He turned to Missus O'Heaney and said, "I'll come see you again when I get back from Jamaica. I'll wanna make sure you're okay after your operation."

"Operation?" She frowned. "I'm not having any operation!"

"You are too!" Despayre stated. "Gabriel here said you're gonna have a big stick taken out of your butt!" And he was promptly yanked away from the room by Gabriel who hurried him out of the door, closing it behind him and leaving the elderly woman alone, staring at the door.

"Well..." She said softly. "Thanks for the short visit..."