"What are you talking about?" Margaret looked at Synn with a horrified expression on her face as they sat in the waiting room of Doctor Gwendolyn Stark, a renowned expert in clinical psychiatry. She also just so happened to be the doctor to the one person that these two shared a link to; their mutual son, Joshua Young aka Despayre.
"I mean," Synn began. "That my foolish mother has gotten it in her head that Joshua would be better off raised in what she perceives to be a more 'wholesome' environment." He scoffed and shook his head. "That is hardly what you would describe my home, now is it?"
"Bullshit."
At the sound of the voice, Synn glanced away from the gray eyes of Margaret Young, those same eyes he saw whenever he looked at their son's; something that he had inherited from her. Along with them in this office's waiting room were Despayre's grandmother, the good one, Victoria, and the man who Despayre looked up to and loved as a 'big brother', Gabriel. Victoria wore an expression much like her daughter's, and Gabriel? Words would be hard pressed to describe visually the pained, angry expression he himself had on his otherwise handsome face at the sheer gall someone would threaten to take 'his' Despy away from them.
Gabriel paid no mind to the looks of disapproval from the few others who waited in this office to be seen by one of Las Vegas's premiere psychiatrists, which is exactly what Gwendolyn Stark was. Nothing but the best would do where Synn's son was concerned. Gabriel saw one last 'patient' watching them, and he turned his head and curled his lip at the man while his arms remained folded across his upper body.
He leaned over slightly in his chair and said, "You know, if you weren't bloody well listening in on other peoples' chats, we wouldn't be having this awkward moment, now would we?"
The patient in question immediately flushed at being chastised so and hurriedly stood up from her chair and hurried around a partisan corner in the large office to a vacant chair, away from them. Gabriel shook his head but had a sarcastic smile on his face, one he wore well whenever he had the opportunity to call a fool a fool.
He went on, "While your house may not be fookin' Church at Christmas, it's not exactly what I would call a house of sin."
Their eyes blinked collectively, and Gabriel took pause after realizing what he had just stated and shook his head. "You know what I mean. Wait..." He frowned and asked, "When did this all happen?"
Synn tossed a clinical magazine on child psychiatry onto a table, having long since given up on trying to read the articles when the fact was, anything could be expected when dealing with a child -- or with a man who had the mind of one. Such as Despayre. So how then could the random so-called 'experts' instruct them in a few short paragraphs the best way to handle someone with a troubled mind? For the past number of years, Synn had learned through trial and error the best way to do so where Despayre was to be concerned was through simple instincts.
Synn answered, "Just a few weeks ago. She dropped the bombshell in a legal document right before that February Supercard SCW held."
"And you're just now telling us." Gabriel stated rather than asked...
Just twelve feet away from where Synn was seated with the rest of Despayre's family, inside of the office of Gwendolyn Stark, the woman sat on a couch, legs crossed, while she watched Despayre carefully, but with a critical albeit caring eye.
Subtlety was the key where Doctor Stark was concerned. Her office was much like her waiting room; carefully crafted in light tones to put the mind at ease subconsciously. While her waiting room was painted a soft, robin's egg blue, her office was much the same color but just a few shades lighter with overtones in white. Decor was minimal at best, with only a painting here or there of some of her favorite artists, and her personal favorite flower, the orchid, spaced at intervals throughout both her office as well as the waiting room to give off not just a pleasing scent, but also the white and wine colored colors to attract and please the eye.
Gwendolyn had ties to the world of professional wrestling; her family were the (in)famous Starks, a dynasty managed by none other than the Goldenboy Gene Banton. And while Gwendolyn played no active role in the sport herself, she never the less remained a fan and it was one of the very reasons why Synn had went through Gene to seek out her aid in helping Despayre to overcome the many obstacles he had been plagued with after his debilitating accident. Gene, having known Synn from their mutual past as active competitors, knew well enough the man would want only the best for the boy, and hence Gwendolyn had become Despayre's private doctor.
"No!" The young teenage Joshua begged and pleaded, tears streaming down his face as Synn stood up on his feet in the same office years ago, pulling his yet-to-be revealed son along with him. "Don't make me!" He shook his head wildly as Gwendolyn waited patiently at her office door, holding it open for the two. "I don't want to! Please!"
He dug his feet into the soft, cream toned carpeting, but Synn held a firm grip on his wrist and was a great deal larger than he was, and pulled him along despite his protests. Despayre had thought he would never need see a doctor again, not since he had been removed from the 'bad place', what he said when referring to Broodmoore, the brutal mental hospital he had been locked away in for the past few years. Yes, years.
"Joshua, stop." The gentle voice of Synn said, but with a baritone commanding tone behind it that practically made the lad wince openly. "Doctor Stark is not going to hurt you."
"You promised me I'd never have to see a doctor again!" He cried pitifully.
"No," Synn corrected. "I promised you that you would never see the doctors who mistreated you ever again, and you won't. Doctor Stark is unlike those other doctors who hurt you. She wants to just talk to you, and you need someone to talk to."
"But I talk to you!" Joshua protested, but with no success.
Synn stated, "And as much as I enjoy our little chats, even I am pained to admit I am no expert." Synn stopped and took him by the chin and lifted it so that he would look his father in the eyes, even though he had no idea that he was his father. "I have done all I can to treat you right and spoil you rotten." A small, impish smile flickered on the teenager's lips before they were gone in a flash. Synn continued, "But this is something that we simply have to do. All we are here to do today is talk. That's all."
Despayre closed his eyes, knowing that no matter how much he begged and pleaded, this was not something he would walk away victorious in with the man who had rescued him. A tear slowly streaked from his closed eye and trickled down his already wet cheek and he whispered, "Promise?"
"Promise." And words such as that were an honor-bound oath where Synn was concerned. At least they were where his son was concerned. He finally allowed Synn to reluctantly escort him without a struggle to the office door where the smiling Doctor Stark waited. Her first instinct was to offer the boy a reassuring pat on the arm for being so brave, but her expertise knew that in a case such as this, any form of physical contact would be a mistake. They stepped through and Doctor Stark shut the door behind them...
Gwendolyn watched as Despayre sat cross legged on her office floor, the small bowl of Skittles in his lap and the constant companion known as Angel perched close by to watch the grueling process of the purple Skittles being separated from their brethren into a second bowl. This had admittedly been the key to getting close enough to the boy when he first came to see her; she always had a small bowl of Skittles waiting for him, with an empty one to make sure Angel got his "due". The task gave him something to do with his hands, while he otherwise had his mind occupied with her. It helped in not making him feel as if these monthly office visits had to be something unpleasant.
"Joshua?" Doctor Stark started to speak, leaning forward on the sofa where she was seated opposite her own desk.
"Hm?" He murmured as his fingers sifted through the colorful rainbow of delicious candies, searching for another purple one. He would have just shoved his whole hand into the bowl but who wanted to eat Skittles that someone had been pawing at with their bare hands? -- Even if that hand was his own!
"Can we talk?"
He glanced up at her wide eyed and said, "I thought that's what we were doing?" He blinked, then looked down at Angel. "Where was I?"
"No." She smiled, her patient's charming nature unlike much of anything she had experienced in all her years of practicing clinical psychiatry. "I just meant you and me. Not..." Her forefinger gently pointed at the teddy bear. "Not that he's not lovely to talk to, but I was hoping this time it could be just you and me."
"Oh." Despayre reacted with hesitation. This was a first; Doctor Stark had never asked Angel to step out of the room before. Well, there was that one time, but he suspected it was more because the family had chili the night before and Angel was stinking up her office with a case of the toots. He frowned, then sighed in admission, looking at her and said, "I guess he does tend to interrupt you with his own diagnosisisis, huh?"
"Well, every now and then." She smiled. "But I don't mind. He does know you so much better than I do, but just this once?"
"*sigh* Okay..."
And out in the waiting room, the office door opening drew the heads of the other patients, as well as that of Synn, Margaret, Victoria and Gabriel up to see the teddy bear being set just out of the office door before it closed once again.
Gabriel looked up at Synn and the others, "O... kay?" He then forgot about everything else save for where they had been talking before this .. 'odd' interruption. His eyes turned again directly to Despayre's father and said, "Why are we just now hearing about all of this?"
The accusing eyes of Despayre's mother and grandmother met Synn as well as they wanted to know the answer to the very same thing, and Synn sighed, despite himself.
He shook his head, "Because I had hoped to spare any of you the drama that is surely to come of this. A mistake in judgement, I grant you. I believed that I could have all of this solved without involving or upsetting any of you."
"We had a right to know." Margaret hissed through clenched teeth. "I had a right to know! I am his mother!"
"I know you are." Synn turned to her, finding having made this error a hard and bitter pill to swallow. "And I know you do. When I knew my mother was looking for me, I knew something was up and this simply confirmed everything. I just wanted to at least try and spare any of you the worry of what is to come."
"And what is to come?" Gabriel asked. "Are you trying to tell us that there is an actual chance that that... that bitch is actually going to have at...?"
"No." Synn shook his head, interrupting the fear that he knew they were now feeling. Synn went on, stating, "No. She will not win. I will not allow it. From the moment I heard she was looking for me, I had been taking precautions in case she thought to try to involve herself back into my life, and after she dropped her little bombshell?" He almost smiled at the audacity -- almost
"And now?" Victoria prodded with a quiver in her voice. Never had she ever felt hatred for another human being, at least not until she had learned that this .. woman .. wanted to steal away her beloved grandson.
Synn answered for their benefit, "Now I know what her game is, and I'm prepared for it. It's like I told Gabriel before; after we found out she had hired that private investigator to locate me, I hired one of my own, a more competent one, and did a little digging, took a few precautions... Now all I can do is wait for her to play her hand."
"And then?" Margaret asked.
Synn's emerald green eyes locked onto her's in a silent promise shared between them that he would do absolutely anything and everything to protect their child. Anything. What lurked behind his eyes almost sent a chill down the spine of Despayre's mother.
Synn answered, "I am afraid that I'm going to have to sink to a new low, even for me." He looked then first to Victoria, and finally Gabriel who knew what such 'lows' would mean for this man. Especially, perhaps, where his own mother was concerned. "So perhaps it would be best if you didn't know exactly."
"Why don't you let us be the judges of that?" Gabriel asked. And to him, and those in this immediate circle of friends and family, it was obvious that he was not asking. He was perhaps one of the select few that could make such demands of Synn.
The leader of the Sins, and Despayre's father, rubbed his chin as he leaned back in the chair that was much too small to suit his large 6'8" frame, and he exhaled sharply.
"Fine." He said and leaned in, elbows on his knees, and the three with him became alert at what was to come...
"So," Gwendolyn started to say. "I understand that you met your grandmother."
Despayre looked up from his chore of sorting the Skittles by color, and he looked a tad perplexed by where this was going, "Of course I met her. So have you. She's out there in the waiting room."
He then used his fingers to scoop up a few of the yellow Skittles and offered them over to his doctor, and she held out her hand gratefully. She had conveniently mentioned in one of their first sessions together that while she did not indulge in sweets too often, she did have a fondness for the lemon Skittles, and being the gentleman that he was, Despayre felt obliged to share.
After all, she bought `em!
"Thank you." She said gently, popping one of the candies in her mouth, and Despayre's cheeks flushed faintly to a charming shade of pink at being thanked by a woman. Privately he was amazed that she ate just the one at a time, where he would have shoveled the handful into his mouth and simply chowed down. manners however dictated he hold off -- at least until it was just he and Angel.
Doctor Stark said, "And I didn't mean your grandmother, Victoria. I meant you 'other' grandmother."
Despayre froze. He simply -- froze. When most people state they did so, it was a bit of a gross exaggeration. However this time where Despayre was concerned, he literally stopped moving.
"Oh..." Was all he said, and the only confirmation that he was alright. This was a touchy subject, because in a private call, Synn had confided in her who his mother was, and the abusive past he had shared with both her and his father. He also told Doctor Stark that years ago, Synn had confided in both Despayre as well as Gabriel his past and what had been done to him.
Despayre's fingers started to move again in the bowl and he fished out a single orange candy and slid it between his lips and chewed. His mumble followed, "She's not my grandma."
"Well technically speaking Joshua..." The doctor started to say but she was interrupted, Despayre's tone of voice uncharacteristically hot in tone...
"She is not my grandma!" He stared her down, almost silently daring her to contradict him in who he viewed as family and who he did not. Not that she would of course. It was just a part of her own personal mind frame to strive the technicalities of any given situation. This one, of course, could be ignored.
Despayre said, "Anybody who treats my dad the way she did..." He shook his head and went back to his task, head down and his long, black hair falling in waves over his shoulders to hide his face away from her while he plucked out another purple Skittle for Angel. "... she's not my family."
"Of course." Doctor Stark smiled, sitting back against the rear of the sofa. "You don't have to share the same blood in order to be family."
"Like me and Gabriel and Rage and Melody." Despayre offered, and she nodded.
"Yes, and even sharing the same blood does not make you family if there is no bond."
"She's a bad woman." Despayre pulled out another orange candy and ate it. "She's mean."
"You didn't like her when you met her?"
Despayre shook his head.
"Because of how she treated your father?"
Despayre nodded.
"Are you sure you want to go that far?" Gabriel asked, a hint of concern in his voice. "I mean, that's extreme. Even for you."
"Showing concern for my mother?" Synn asked sarcastically, and almost immediately he felt the heat radiating from the magician's anger.
"Not funny." Gabriel frowned. "I could care less what happens to the woman who did to you what she did, or who thinks she can just walk into our lives and tear it apart!" He leaned in, his eyes burning. "I just want to make sure that you can live with what you just told us you're planning on doing!"
Synn's eyes met his own and he answered, "I could live with a lot worse, Gabriel, where protecting Margaret's (he placed a hand on her shoulder) and my son is concerned!"
Gabriel did not let his eyes stray from this man's, a testament to his own solid personality as it was well known in their circle that Synn had quite the unnerving stare. Gabriel simply sat back, and nodded in satisfaction at the answer when the office door opened, and Angel plopped over to the floor.
"Were you listening in!?" Despayre pointed an accusing finger down at his teddy bear bestie, before looking up to his family for an answer. "Was he listening in??"
"Well you know how your little friend there is where secrets are concerned." Synn offered as he and the others stood up to greet Despayre, who scooped Angel up, and the doctor, as they emerged from the office.
"Yeah!" Despayre huffed, never stopping the affection and love he had for Angel, cuddling the teddy bear close. "He only hates secrets when he's not in on `em!"
"Did everything go alright?" Margaret asked, wrapping her son in her arms for a quick hug.
"Everything went fine, as always." Gwendolyn assured them. "But before you leave, I was hoping for a quick word with Joshua's parents?" She looked to Gabriel and Victoria. "It'll only take a brief moment."
Not thrilled at being left out of whatever this was, Gabriel and Victoria both nodded with reluctance, and Despayre's grandma led him by the arm to a vacant chair and the three had a seat while Doctor Stark shut the office door behind Synn and Margaret.
Another patient, an older, heavier man turned in his chair beside Despayre and smiled, "I'll tell you what's wrong with me if you tell me what's wrong with you!"
Despayre stared for a brief moment at the man and then turned away. "That's not very fair. Now I already know what's wrong with you."
Inside of her office, Gwendolyn turned to face Synn and Margaret, none of the three taking a seat.
Gwendolyn said, "I have a meeting scheduled with the investigating attorney that is representing your mother's claims for custody next week."
"And?" Synn inquired.
TBC...
(Don't you just HATE it when I do that!?)
"It seems that as of late, the past has come back to make itself known and bite us in the proverbial ass, so to speak."
"I'm not talking about the situation that has recently plagued my family, but more so from a professional point of view. The Blast From the Past IV Memorial mixed tag team tournament. An annual event here in Sin City Wrestling that generates the most excitement, where we get to see everyone's favorite Superstars and Bombshells paired together randomly to compete to honor -- what exactly? Oh yes, the past."
"There was a time in professional wrestling, literally decades in the past, where wrestling was not held in ninety thousand seat stadiums, but in smokey halls where men wore suits and women wore their finest furs and jewels. It was an era where you seldom saw children in attendance, and instead it was a sport that was watched and celebrated with a lot more respect than it is in this day and age. It is a time where we look into the past, and celebrate a time known as the 'Golden Era' of wrestling, and where we honor the men and women who paved the road for those that compete inside of the ring for not just SCW, but the world over."
"June Byers and Gorgeous George, two legends of their time. Ms. Byers was one of the legitimate tough women of her days, her beauty aside she could fight tooth and nail inside of the ring. She scratched and clawed, and was both a physical power house and technical marvel. She fought hard as she rose through the ranks, and through controversial methods or no, she defeated the legendary Mildred Burke for the World Woman's Championship, a feat no other woman in the business had been able to do for Burke's near twenty year reign. And Gorgeous George, with his gold hairpins and bleached blonde hair, his sexy valet and spraying the ring with perfume? He was perhaps the first genuine showman of the business, and has been modeled after many times over through the years by scores of wrestlers who wished to model themselves after the 'effeminate one'. I can not think of two finer athletes to honor this year in this historic event."
"I also find it strangely ironic that Despayre will be staring across the ring, at none other than Goth himself. Speaking of a blast from the past..."
"The history between Goth and Despayre extends back years, clear back to the AWA where Goth made the near fatal mistake in judgment at attacking Angel, and suffering the price for having done so. And here in SCW when Goth showed up and sought to continue that long standing rivalry? Many here know what has went down between Despayre and this man he will soon meet again inside of the ring. And only too recently it would seem that Goth has had a change of heart."
"Whether this change is genuine, or how long it will last, is anyone's guess, but it was not so long ago that Goth approached Despayre and sought to end the war between them, and start over fresh and anew. While it would be nice for Despayre to finally get to close the door of the closet on his personal 'boogey man', there is a saying about old wounds not healing so easily. Once that bell rings, and you are inside of the ring against Despayre, there are no promises. There are no guarantees. You were gracious enough to offer the olive branch, and yes, Despayre did accept it. But in this event, winning is the key, and advancing to the next round the end goal."
"While I have no doubts that Despayre's partner Crystal Millar will be able to handle Traci Patterson once they are inside of the ring, I will make the promise that Ms. Millar's husband will play no role in the outcome as he has done in times past. That much I will promise, in return for you offering to end this war between my son and yourself."
