Super Late Tuesday Evening
“Best. Quarantine. Birthday. Ever!”
A satisfied sigh fills the darkened room as we see Bella Madison curl in tighter to her fiance, Malachi. “I’m happy you are happy, mo grá. I know it’s not exactly what you felt it should have been...”
“Shhhhh, don’t...don’t ruin it.” she said, grabbing his hand. “Somehow we will all be back together again...but even then, you seriously outdid yourself, if I didn’t know better I swore you were going to propose to me again the way you were going.”
A small laugh comes from Malachi as he grabs her hand and kisses it on the back of it, “I think once was enough, but I could definitely understand why. If anything it would just be to try and get you to marry me faster.”
“It probably would have worked. But...”
“Mattie, I know.” Mal said with an almost disappointment in his voice.
Bella leans up and looks at him with sad eyes, “We said we didn’t want to rush it, and I swear as soon as she is back and things calm down, we will pick a date and then you will never be able to get rid of my sassy ass.”
Mal smiles at her and brushes her hair back a bit, “Oh I know that, love. Just feeling rather....helpless right now. I know I’m protecting you, and in a way, Alanah. ...not hearing from Mark and Christian about what you talked about on Climax isn’t helping things either.” that last part kind gritted through his teeth.
“They won’t ignore it forever and I brought up an excellent point in the entire situation. I have that triple threat match this week and if I manage to find a way to beat not only Jessie Salco but Char Kwan? We might have a way to get back into contending for those Mixed Tag Titles. Besides...I have a lot to make up for, for my mistakes.”
Mal just shakes his head, “Don’t...don’t be sayin’ that again. Luck was on their side at Blaze...”
“But that’s the thing babe, I’m the one that took that pin, I did lose us that match. I need to make up for that and I somehow will. Just need to handle it, which means please...don’t be pissing Mark and Christian off.” Bella says with her big blue eyes almost in puppy form.
Mal just rolls his eyes at her and smirks, “I’ll try, mo grá. Just, no more talk of you being the reason we lost, alright?”
Bella smirks and leans up and gives him a kiss, “Thank you...and I will, I promise.” And with that she curls back up to him, grabbing his hand again and looks at it, “I cannot wait til I look at this hand and see a ring around it.”
“Me too, love.” He kisses the top of her head, “Get some sleep...training tomorrow.”
“And the day after that...and the day after that...” Mal places his hand over her mouth.
“Sleep sass.” Bella giggles a bit under his hand and can’t stop herself and licks his hand.... “OH COME ON! REALLY?!?!” Malachi wraps his other arm around her tightly and wipes his licked hand on her face to the tune of Bella laughing and squeelin’. “Imma gonna teach yer arse the hard way!”
“DIRTY!” is all Bella could get out cause it’s now turned into Mal pinning her down and tickling her. Eventually Mal relents and smiles down at his beautiful fiancee. She smiles back and wraps her arms around him, “I do love you, you stubborn ass.”
Mal smirks and raises his eyebrows, “Prove it”
Two Days Later
“MALACHI NOAH O’CONNELL!!!!!” Bella's voice screeches out through the training center.
Mal looks across the room as we see Bella still in street clothes, storming across the room, phone in hand, looking pissed off, “Hey, there you are. Quick, get changed so-”
“No, I’m not gonna get changed, we need to have a chat.” she holds up her phone, “We had a chat just a couple nights ago, you promised me you wouldn’t piss off Mark and Christian and today you get into a piss fight on twitter?!? What the fuck is wrong with you???”
Mal rolls out of the ring and holds up his hands, “Woah, ok hold up, I didn’t start that.”
“No, but you sure as hell didn’t help matters. I know you don’t exactly see eye to eye with the heads of SCW but insulting them is not going to help our case out at all.” Bella just can’t help but exacerbate the issue, “I just don’t understand why you do this. I’m out trying to make sure we have a chance at a real case and you piss off the ones with the power to either see it our way, or completely ignore it. You calling Mark Ward a...” she quickly glances at her phone “‘cockrag’ is NOT HELPING! Now even if I do win that triple threat on Sunday, what good could possibly come of it? All for fucking NOTHING!”
“Bella, you need to calm down, you know that Mark and Christian don’t think too highly of me to begin with...” ....oh yeah...let’s tell a raging woman to calm down. Bella just turns around for a moment running her free hand through her hair. “Babe, look at me. They should know by now who I am, I am the asshole of this...and I’m your fiance, that shouldn’t come down on you.”
“But I am not just your fiancee, Malachi. I’m your fucking tag partner. And it comes down on US. You think Lach and Sierra had these issues? Sierra is a fucking bitch, but she doesn’t insult the bosses! Do I agree with this freebird bullshit?? NO! But there is a way to do it and you just undid more than what I can possibly make up for. No amount of apologizing from me is going to undo this....” and with that Bella’s phone goes off twice and she glances down and reads it outloud, “From Mark: She's not, I like her, she fights and claws for what she wants, she gives it her everything. She talks like a person and treat people as such, regardless of being pissed off. I don't want boot licking. I want rational conversation, not insults, and you blew it, she hasn't. So if you get yourself a match Malachi, to prove you belong where you think you do, it's because of Bella, not you.”
Malachi just stands there and Bella stares at him for a moment before she shakes her head and walks away, “Wait...where are you going?”
“For a walk....” is all Bella says before slamming the door behind her.
Last thing we see from Malachi is him leaning against the ring and muttering to himself “Fuck.”
About an hour later we catch up with Bella sitting on a bench near the hotel, the sun of the Vegas heat beating down on her. Her legs tucked up under her and her head buried in her hands. She can feel someone sit down next to her and she just sighs, “Please...leave me alone.”
“Little girl...why are you crying?” a soft female voice asks
“I’m not crying, I’m frustrated...there’s a difference.” Bella looks up and pushes her long blonde hair to the back and wraps it up in a loose bun and looks to the side of her and looks surprised at the figure next to her. An older woman with short light gray hair and glasses.
“You look more and more like your mom with every passing day. Except...your eyes...they look just like...”
“My grandfather....I’ve been told. How can you-?”
“Oh, that. Well, I figured I’d finally pay you a visit. Felt like you needed a friendly ear. Now, don’t make me ask again.” the woman sitting next to her says with a small smile.
Bella sits back and looks at the woman and wipes away at her eyes, “Oh, well feels like I’m just having this huge battle with not just myself but with everyone around me. I’m trying like hell to shake this stink of being defeated only for something else to go down and derail me. I just blew up at my fiance because he has to constantly fight with everyone but me and I know he meant well but well...”
“Men do some stupid things in their life. Can’t fault him for trying...”
Bella laughs, “True...I just wish sometimes he’d-”
“Think before he acts? Men never do...they are a very impulsive creature.”
“Does it ever stop?”
The woman shrugs, “Well, to a point. Lord knows with my husband, he did some pretty implusive stupid things with our children...moreso our oldest son and daughter. Cost us 12 years with our granddaughter.” she looks towards Bella, “She’s a brilliant thing too, has been for a long time. But thankfully I was able to spend a lot of time with her before she went off to college." The woman glances down at Bella's left hand and notices the ring, “He really loves you though, especially with a rock like that.”
“Yeah, he has been there for me practically non-stop for the last year, pushing me through a lot of things, never letting me give up on myself when I want to just tuck myself into a corner and forget the world exists for a while. Like recently, we were in this match...we’re wrestlers by the way...but we lost and I’m the one that got pinned in the ring. For weeks I was kicking myself and feeling responsible. In fact I was so down on myself that I even called my loss the last time I was even in a match just cause I knew what was going to happen.” Bella just shakes her head, “But then this past week, he made sure I had the best birthday ever since I was a kid. Even during all this bullshit going on with the virus, I felt like a queen. I felt like I could take on the world with him....and then...”
“He went off the handle.”
Bella just looks at the woman with a wide eyed expression, “Exactly! And here I am about to be in this Triple Threat with Char Kwan, who is currently on my shit list and Jessie Salco, who is a certified legend and I know damn well I have this huge mountain in front of me and I’m pissed at him. Why do guys always gotta do the strange shit at the wrong time?” she just leans back and covers her face.
“Because men were sent to earth for 2 things, and one of those is to make sure we are almost always mad at them for something. Use it to your advantage....hell maybe get a puppy out of it or something.”
Bella laughs and looks at the woman, “We already got one...she’s a handful.”
She just shrugs, “Well....get another one then. Or maybe jewelry. But either way, he did it with the idea that maybe he was helping.”
“Yeah, I know. I just really really wanna go into this match with Jessie and Char and actually win for once. I know the moves, I know how to do it but something in my head stops me from really finishing it. I hate that I’m at the bottom, I hate disappointing people. I get my praises sung non-stop and for what? The win over Jessie Salco would be HUGE and beating Char would just help me prove a point...that I know we deserve a chance at contending for those Mixed Tag Titles. I have never in my life wanted something so much then just a moment what I want is what I’m going to get. I want people to realize that I am not going to let life screw with me anymore.”
The woman smiles slightly, “You sound just like her...”
Bella looks confused “Like who?”
“Your mother...once upon a time it was like her against the world and eventually she stood up to the biggest wolf in the pack, challenged them...she didn’t come out well the first time around but she never gave up. She kept clawing and scratching and eventually...” The woman let’s Bella finish the thought.
“It paid off...I remember that.” Bella looks out and remembers it all fondly, watching her mom win her first ever PWSWF championship over some of the biggest legends in the game.
“Maybe standing up to the respect and to the challenge is exactly what you need to do. Don’t let yourself beat yourself before you even step into that ring, don’t let them beat you before you are ready, and don’t even be ready to be beaten.” the woman looks out and sees that the sun is beginning to set, “One thing about your mom...she never let people tell her she couldn’t do something. In fact she was one that would do it just to piss them off. You have that same ability.”
“Paris, Mal....wrestling...”
“All of that was your choice. You took the chances, you have that gorgeous man, who drives you insane, you made your own path, exactly how you wanted to do it.”
“It’s time I let my own fears stop controlling me....it’s time I take exactly what I want. I’m going to make my statement. It starts with a legend and someone that just needs to realize that there is no skipping to the head of the line because there is a loophole the size of a mack truck in the rules. I’m gonna flip the script on every single one of them.” Bella looks over and the woman is gone and nowhere in sight. Bella looks around for a moment and when she looks the other way she sees Malachi standing off some distance away.
....go to him.
Bella stands up and walks over to Malachi, “Hey.”
“Hey.” Mal sighs for a moment, “I’m...”
She doesn’t let him finish before giving him a kiss that catches him off guard, he reaches out and touches her face and breaks the kiss. “I know.”
Mal just smiles and nods to head back to the hotel, “Hold on, I left my glasses over there.” Bella runs back to the bench and picks up her glasses and looks down at where the woman was sitting for a moment, and we can see tears well up in her eyes. “Thanks Gram.”
She pushes the tears away quickly and heads back to Malachi, wrapping her arms around him and him around her as the scene fades out on the bench.
