Tuesday October 19, 2010
PWX Arena- WhirlyBirdz Locker Room
Crown Point, Indiana
11:31 PM Local Time
Terrence Thompson was never one to consider himself an emotional person.
Of course, he felt the joys and sorrows of his life like any normal individual. He was happy on his wedding day, and even happier on the day his daughter was born. He felt elation after his victories, deflated after his defeats. He whooped in joy after the Colts won the Super Bowl, and sulked for a week straight after the Cubs tanked horrendously after the Bartman incident. He even cried at the end of Marley & Me (not that he’d EVER admit to it).
But until now, there was probably never a moment in Terrence Thompson’s life when he felt like dancing around his locker room, singing Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” at the top of his lungs.
Fortunately for Terrence (and the eardrums of the entire world), the door was closed, and the room vacant, save for Wendy, who, half-dressed and changing from her ring gear, could only watch the spectacle in open-mouthed horror.
As Terrence finished yet another round of “roma-ah-ahs’ and “gaga oh la las”, he seemed to become aware of his wife’s presence, and ceased his singing with a cheesy grin.
“Don’t mean us, hon. We’re not a bad romance,” he said, winking at her.
“Uh-hunh,” Wendy responded slowly, her eyes blinking.
“Actually,” Terrence continued, as he threw a T-shirt over his head, and tossed his racing fire suit into a duffel bag, “I’d say we have a pretty damn good romance right now.”
Wendy smiled slightly, then went back to buttoning her pale green blouse. Terrence watched her closely. She was putting a lot of effort into hiding it, but there was a certain melancholy about her attitude tonight. Grimacing, Terrence tossed his boots and pads in the bag then turned and grabbed his wife, pulling her in close in an embrace. “You were great out there,” he said, kissing her forehead. “Had you not taken Valerie down the way you did, I think I’d have a bit of egg on my face right now.”
Caught off guard, Wendy hesitated for just a second, then returned the hug. “Thank you,” she replied. “I saw you hit the mat just as I was climbing onto the apron, and I thought I could catch her by surprise. I’m sorry I couldn’t have come in sooner, maybe you wouldn’t have been..”
“It worked out okay.” Terrence interrupted gently. “Although that woman has some power to her I didn’t expect. That kinda actually hurt.”
Wendy nodded silently. Powerbombing someone her husbands size was certainly something she’d never be able to do. “Val’s a great wrestler- she proved that again tonight.”
“Not as great as you,” Terrence responded with a smile.
Wendy smiled back, then broke away from her husband. Picking an elastic band off the table, she focused on retying her hair into a ponytail. “They sure weren’t happy afterwards, were they?”
“Can you blame them?” Terrence chuckled. “Carping for seven months about how they deserve the titles, and then...” he finished his point by making a whistling sound, growing steadily lower in pitch, until culminating with a splat noise.
Wendy rolled her eyes, and stuffed her ring gear into her own duffel bag. “Don’t mock them, Terrence. How many times have you or I been chasing something, only to fall just short? It’s part of the business, but it’s a painful one.”
Terrence shrugged. “Yeah, but we always get there in the end, don’t we? They’ll get another chance, and probably sooner rather than later. We haven’t seen the last of them.”
Wendy nodded again, her expression neutral, and turned back to her bag, finishing packing it. Terrence raised his eyebrow as he watched her- there was that sadness again.
“Everything okay, hon?”
Wendy nodded without even looking up. She zipped up the bag, and looked around for her shoes. “I’m fine,” she responded, almost flatly.
“Mind if I raise the bullshit flag?” Terrence responded bluntly, although in a gentle tone.
Wendy shot him a look that would have killed a normal man on the spot, but Terrence held his ground, looking back at Wendy with concern.
Finally, Wendy broke her glare, sighing. “I just have been wondering how long we can continue to do this.”
Terrence blinked once. “What, wrestle?”
Wendy nodded. “I’ve just been thinking. Are we sure we’re doing the right thing? We’ve been so lucky to avoid injury so far, but can we keep it up? And we have a daughter, who’s less than a year away from starting kindergarden. What are we going to do then? Send her to boarding school so she won’t get in the way, like my parents did to me?”
“Of course not, don’t be ridiculous,” Terrence snapped back. “Isn’t half of this why we chose PWX anyways? Its just three hours from home, so we’re not spending half our lives travelling. And even if we were, we have the RV.. that’s better a home than most people will ever have, hon. As far as Theresa starting school, that’s in August, and this is October. We have plenty of time to decide what we’ll do by then.”
Wendy didn’t reply, but she obviously wasn’t satisfied with her husband’s answer.
“Do you want out, hon? Do you want to quit?”
Wendy shook her head. “No, I don’t. But like Nana said, it’s not about what I want... its about what’s best for our family”
Terrence’s gaze immediately hardened. “Wait... your grandmother said that?”
Wendy nodded. “We were talking the other night,”
Terrence laughed helplessly. “Since when in the HELL did you start taking advice on raising a family from that decrepit old hag-beast?”
“Terrence!” Wendy snapped, suddenly angry at her husbands words.
But Terrence wasn’t to be deterred. “Wendy, this is the exact same woman who tried to destroy my Christmas presents because I wasn’t ‘devout enough to celebrate the holiday’.”
“Well, the ‘Christmas Carols’ you were singing WERE in pretty poor taste,” Wendy said shrugging.
“And maybe she should smooth things over with her OWN daughter before she should start telling us how to raise our own!” Terrence continued, real anger in his voice as he glared at his wife.
Wendy paused, her mouth hanging open. It was true- Nana hadn’t spoken to her Aunt Margaret for nearly twenty-five years, ever since she had forsaken her Catholocism to marry into an Amish community in Pennsylvania. Wendy had remained relatively close with her aunt, particularily after her mother’s death, and regularly exchanged letters with her, so she knew all too well about the severed relationship between her Aunt and her grandmother.
Finally she sighed, and nodded, conceding the point. “I was going to try and talk to her about reconciling with Aunt Maggie...” she said quietly.
“Yeah, good luck with that,” Terrence shot back, rolling his eyes. He took a deep breath, and exhaled, trying to calm his temper. “Look, hon. We have every responsibility in the world to worry about the welfare of our child. But there are parents out there working in occupations way more hazardous than our own. If you want to retire again, we’ll retire. But I want you to do it because YOU want to, not because Crazy Connie had the audacity to accuse you of being a bad parent, okay?”
Wendy’s eyes narrowed at the derogatory name Terrence had used for her grandmother, but at the same time, she nodded quietly. Again, Terrence walked forward and wrapped his wife in his arms.
“You’ve had a long night, hon. You won a hard fought and emotional match tonight, you’re tired, and your nerves are probably frayed. We’ve got more tough matches coming up, and your fathers parole hearing is just a couple weeks away now. Whatever you decide, I’ll go with, but promise me that you’ll think it over until after Never Say Die and your dad’s hearing before you make a decision.”
Wendy returned her embrace, and used the sleeve of her husbands shirt to wipe the moisture that was now in her eyes. “I promise,” she whispered.
==================================
Thursday October 21, 2010
The Nest- Living Room
Indianapolis, Indiana
6:13 PM Local Time
[Scene opens in the living room of the Nest. Wendy Briese is sitting on the couch, as stiffly as usual. She smiles softly for the camera, taking a deep breath.]
“I suppose I should be happy.”
[Pause]
“I knew going into that match that Terry and I were going to have our work cut out for us. Jeremiah and Valerie are phenomenal competitors, and they proved it yet again Tuesday Night. But in the end, it was us standing in victory at the conclusion of our match, standing in victory, our fourth successful defense in the books.”
[Wendy pauses for just a second,]
“Again, I suppose I should be happy. We beat our stiffest challenge, our greatest rivals, off in an amazing match. But now that its over- I feel almost like its the day after Christmas. You know, that feeling you get when you know that something so amazing is over- and it’s going to be a while before a moment like that comes again. Or at all.”
[Wendy frowns, and sighs, as she looks off to the side of the camera. With her seriously contemplating retiring for the benefit of her daughter, she has to be wondering if there will even BE another match against the Belmonts.]
“I see JPO isn’t about to give us a moments rest when it comes to our belts, however. Just one week after defending against the Belmonts, we now face Global Revolution- Jacob Wright and Antonio Lopez.”
[Small smile]
“I think it goes without saying that Antonio Lopez’ return to PWX was one of the most shocking- and welcome- moments of the PWX this year. His return swung the momentum in the Resistance’s favor, and he played no small part in helping our team get the win over Hollywood and his goons. For that, I will eternally be grateful to him.”
[Wendy nods respectfully at the camera]
“But now Antonio will be stepping into the opposite corner, his partner, Jacob Wright alongside him. I don’t think there’s a person who follows PWX who doesn’t know just how badly my husband wants to beat Jacob, that’s for sure.”
[Wendy smiles a bit wider.]
“Best of all, however, is that this match will be a nice change of pace from the previous few encounters I’ve been in. There’s been so much animosity between my opponents and I over the past few weeks, from the Belmonts, to Jenna Himmler, to the Cartel. Of course this match will be just as intense and hard fought as those other contests have been, but without there being any bad blood between the two teams, respect should be much more prevalent.”
[Another small smile]
“Jacob, Antonio, you’ve more than earned yourselves a shot at our belts. You beat Pride & Honor for this right, not a small feat by any means. But Terrence and I haven’t lost yet as a team, and we don’t intend to this week either.”
[Small smile]
“Best of luck to you two. We’ll see you both in the ring.”
[Fade]
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