"Butterfly"

definition; spiritual rebirth, transformation, change, hope and life.

***

SEPTEMBER 28
ORLANDO, FLORIDA
AMWAY CENTER
CLASH OF CHAMPIONS
8:00 PM

ROMAN

It was the end of Clash Of Champions and I was currently walking down the hallway, heading to the garage. I'm not going to lie, out of all the amazing fueds I've had, being able to work with my cousin has definitely made it my favorite one. I look forward to what our storyline holds later down the line and felt blessed to be in the position I'm in right now.

Another thing that I was happy about was that I finally expressed to Sasha how I felt a couple weeks ago, and clearly by the way she responded I could tell she felt the same. However, ever since that night I haven't heard from her since. I was heavily confused, and a little worried. At first, I jumped to conclusions but when it really came down to it I knew she wouldn't just cut me off out of the blue like that. Not anymore, which leads me to think that it might have something to do with her husband. It had to be, and it irritated me.

I tried getting in contact with everyone; Jon, Josh, Trinity, Sarona, Austin, Kofi, Big E, Pamela, everyone that I knew that was cool with her. All of them said that they haven't heard or seen her outside of work. Pamela even said that she did see Mercedes for the segment they did a week ago but right afterwards she couldn't even get a word with her, but then she also mentioned something that sounded awfully familiar and also made my blood boil. She promised Mercedes that she wouldn't say anything, but being the concerned friend she was, she told me that her and Sarath were having issues, which was clear that she was not happy with him. It was the same exact thing she told me.

I know me and Mercedes aren't together, and she has a husband. But, she told me herself how he treats her. I'm not going to be oblivious to that, and maybe I do sound a little too protective, but I can't let this slide. I wanted to let it go, but it was clear that this guy was threatened by me. Everytime we got close, she suddenly disappeared by his doing.

That's because he knows that she doesn't love him. I know that she doesn't love him, the look in her eyes whenever she's with me shows way more admiration than she's probably ever showed him in their entire marriage. I could give her more than he could, Mercedes should be with me. Why wouldn't she just leave him?

I had the hardest time figuring that out, but it didn't matter. I knew she would be with me, soon. Right now, I just needed answers. On that note, I quickly reached the garage, putting my stuff in the car and turned back around to go look for her. I knew she was here since she was on TV tonight. As soon as I was about to turn the corner, I heard a bunch of yelling in that direction. It sounded like a heated argument.

"You're not doing the fucking storyline, do you understand!?" An angry, masculine voice barked. I raised my eyebrow, and stood still to eavesdrop.

"You can't make decisions for me anymore, Sarath! I'm over this!" The women's voice yelled back, sounding like the she was sobbing. I immediately recognized her voice and my blood instantly got hot. I stepped from the wall to see who it was and just like I had guessed, it was Mercedes and Sarath. Before I could even make a step towards them, Sarath had slapped Mercedes across the face harshly.

The anger I felt in that moment was undescribable and I saw nothing but the  red. I lost all control, and had no mercy either. One minute I was standing stil, then the next minute I was on top of Sarath, throwing the hardest punches I could to his face. Blood was dripping from his face onto my knuckles, and he was slowly but surely getting unconscious.

Then, I heard a bunch of commotion behind me, trying to calm me down and pull me off of him.

"Chill out, Uce!" Jon said in a calming tone, pulling at my right arm tightly while Josh pushed at my chest to back me up.

"Let go of me," I say angrily. I tried my best to get out of their grip but I couldn't budge. Then, a budge of security guards that monitored the backstage area came flooding over in my direction. Not only that, a crowd started to form not too far away from us. Some of the wrestlers, lighting crew, ring announcers, mangers, everyone was watching what was going down. You could almost hear a pen drop.

Everything made so much sense to me now. The controlling, manipulating, everything. She's been abused this entire time; I was stupid enough to take her word for it and believe that she was okay, when she wasn't. I knew I was going to face some consequences after this for almost killing this guy, but I don't care. Who knows, he probably almost killed her and put her life in danger, multiple times. This definitely wasn't over, he was going to catch more of this ass whooping, and this time, I wouldn't be alone.

➰

TAMPA, FLORIDA
9:30 PM

"So you mean to tell me that Sarath has been hitting her, Uce?" Jon asks me with stunned look on his face.

"You deadass saw him put his hands on her?" Josh asks right after him, with his arms crossed. I could tell the both of them were pissed off, but a little shocked. Sarath happened to be a friend of both of theirs and they never would've thought he would do something like this, but it made sense at the same time. I should've saw that coming from a mile away.

"On my mama, bro. Why do you think I whooped his ass?" I whispered back. I crossed my arms and leaned against the wall, turning my head towards my room where Mercedes was, sitting on the bed. Trinity and Pamela were on opposite sides beside her, giving her comfort while the Policeman was asking her questions about the incident.

"His ass wasn't whooped enough," Josh remarked. "Where does he stay at?"

"Orlando." I said, turning my head to face the both of them. Jon and Josh looked at the both of each other before making eye contact with me again.

"Then let's go." Jon suggested. I nodded my head, looking down for a second. That was one thing that our family couldn't stand and did not tolerate. You treat women with respect, period. Not a finger should be laid on them, we don't care what the situation is. If you mess with one on our watch, especially someone that we care about, all bets are off. Me, Jon, and Josh cared about Mercedes and weren't going to let him off the hook so easily.

Before I could respond, I felt a tap on my shoulder, "Mr. Anoa'i?"

I turned around to see the Police officer in front of me. I straightened my posture and cleared my throat, listening to what he was about to see.

"So she's doing okay, thankfully there aren't any bruises from the incident." He informs, "However, we will need to do some further investigating in this case."

"Further investigating?" I say with confusion, "I don't understand, he hit her. What's there to investigate?" My patience started to run thin. It's like they didn't believe a word she and I told him.

"Mr. Anoa'i, you have to be patient with us. We believe you both, one hundred percent." He starts, "And the backstage camera's gave us even more proof. But there's more evidence we need to look into before we could file a restraining order, possibly a sentencing. Do you know anything about a sex tape being involved?"

My eyes slightly widened, and the twins behind me did the exact same thing. Sex tape? What was he talking about?

"Absolutely not." I say truthfully, "What sex tape?"

The Policeman turned around to briefly look at Mercedes before turning back to look at me, "Her husband had recorded a tape of them without her consent a couple years back, which is already a charge itself. He's been using it against her in order for them to stay together, and on top of the abuse, would be two charges. We would have to get our hands on this tape so there's enough evidence to take him in."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing right now. No wonder why she refused to divorce him, he's been black mailing her this entire time. I was disgusted with how he treated her and I would kill to get my hands on him again at this moment. Not only that, why would they need a tape to justify that he should be locked up? Yes, getting it out of his possession would be better on her end, but why would they need the tape? It made no sense, and to me it still sounded like the man doubted everything that she was saying, even though there's proof to back it up. This was bullshit.

However, I held back my tongue. I wasn't going to get into an argument with the police, especially since I almost damn near got arrested for almost killing Sarath.

"I understand." I nodded my head, sighing, "Thank you for letting me know."

"No problem." He nods my head, shaking my hand, "I'll make sure to keep in touch with you both. Have a good rest of your night, gentlemen." The office says to all three of us before leaving our side.

"We really gotta' fuck him up now, cuz." Jon sighs, shaking his head.

"Tell me about it," I reply. I honestly would too, but I decided right now that I needed to be with her.

"We'll get to him later," I promise. "Right now, I have to check and see if she's okay. Do you mind picking up the kids for me tomorrow?"

"I gotchu." Josh agrees. I dap him up, thanking him silently and then we all walked into the room together. Trinity and Pamela looked up, meanwhile Mercedes remained looking down.

"Let's bounce, y'all. It's getting late." Josh says, getting his keys out of his pocket. Trinity and Pamela both hug Mercedes at the same time, making her smile a tiny bit. Josh and Jey leaned down to give her a hug as well before heading out the door. I daped both of the guys up, gave Trinity a goodbye hug and Pamela whispered to me subtly.

"Take care of my girl," She says with a worried expression on her face. I nodded, with a reassuring soft smile on my face.

"You got it." I reply, we fist bumped and then they all left the room, leaving us two alone.

"Are you okay, babygirl?" I ask with concern as I make my way over to her. Mercedes doesn't make eye contact with me at all, instead she continues to look down at the comforter. I took the opportunity to lift her chin up gently so she could look at me.

Her eyes were filled with tears, and I could see the hurt written all over her face. It broke my heart completely.

"I'm so s-sorry, Joe.." She stuttered, trying her best not to cry. I immediately hushed her, bringing her fragile body into mine, holding her tightly.

"Don't apologize," I cooed to her. I rubbed her back in circles softly as she let herself go into my chest, sobbing loudly. I could tell this was years of pain that she was finally letting out; She kept going, and going. Hours went by, but I refused to go anywhere.

Her cries turned into faint sniffles, and her sniffles turned into silence. I could hear her adorable snores leave her lips as she slept on my chest. I kissed the top of her head gently, and whispered in her ear. She most likely couldn't hear me, but I let her know anyway.

"I got you. You're safe with me, Mama. I'm not going anywhere."

➰

∆FLASHBACK∆
FEBRUARY 25th, 2019
ATLANTA, GEORGIA
STATE FARM ARENA
RAW

SASHA

"I can't believe that I'm letting you do my makeup for tonight." Rebecca says in regret as she slouches in her chair. I roll my eyes playfully, pulling her long, red hair back.

"Shut up, I actually can do makeup." I look at her through the mirror that had bright lights all around it.

"Yeah it the way you do it looks cute on you." She replies, dodging her own looks. I ignore her ridiculous lie, knowing how beautiful she was with or without it.

"You'll look gorgeous regardless, now be still." I demand with a light chuckle as I got my makeup bag open. All of a sudden, my phone started to vibrate from my pocket. I grabbed it and looked at the caller ID, saying 'Ro🤙🏼'. I raised my eyebrow and clicked on the call button.

"Roman?"

Rebecca's head shot up from her own phone she was scrolling through. She looked straight at me through the mirror, and I nervously chuckled, looking down as he replied.

"Guess what?"

I tucked a piece of my purple strands behind my ear, and turned around so Becca couldn't read my facial expressions, "Huh?"

"Look up," He said calmly. I looked up from the ground, and ahead of me, I saw Roman standing there. I almost dropped my phone in shock, and a huge smile appeared on my face as I stared at him. He returned the same smile as he hung up the phone.

I had absolutely no idea that Roman would be coming back to work tonight. He had told me that he was in remission and he was ready to come back, but never told me the details when he would. This was such a surprise and I was extremely happy to see him, it truly wasn't the same here without him being around.

I turned around to see Rebecca was also shocked that he returned as well, she and I exchanged excited smiles briefly before I ran over to him. As I got closer, I slowed down my pace and he opened his arms up.

"Hey." He giggled, bringing me into a tight hug but I most likely was squeezing him even tighter.

"I missed you," I say with joy as we continued to hug.

"What's up, sushi? I missed you." He replied, calling me one of his million nicknames that he gave me, since he knew I loved sushi.

"How are you?" I asked, genuinely wanting to know if he was okay. Even though I ask him this all the time, he didn't mind.

"I'm good, you good?" He asks as we break the hug. Roman smiles down at me sweetly and I nod my head with a cheesy grin on my face.

"Yeah." I reply as we both turn around to walk where Rebecca was so he could say hello.

"Champ Champ." He teased, poking my stomach which made me giggle.

➰

∆PRESENT DAY∆
SEPTEMBER 28TH
10:25 AM

SASHA

The bright rays of the sunlight pierced through the curtains, waking me from my sleep. I quickly covered my eyes and turned to the other side to shield myself from the light. I yawned, slowly rising up from the bed and looked at my surroundings. I furrowed my eyebrows and noticed the empty space next to me. Where was Joe?

I got up from the bed, walked across the room to open the door and into the hallway. It was completely quiet, which was weird since I thought there would be a lot more noise with the kids. As I was about to make my way down the steps, I heard soft baby cries from the door I just passed. My heart instantly melted and the longing mother in me didn't hesitate to check on the twins.

I turned around, pushed the door slowly since it was already cracked open and saw one of the twins fully awake. I believe that was one I haven't met yet, Glynn, and I was surprised that Jordan wasn't up since he was full of energy the last time I saw him.

"Good morning, handsome." I say in my baby voice, hoping it would calm him down. I walk up to his crib and gently pick him up, "Did someone have a rough night?"

He continued to cry, and he nuzzled his face into my neck. I frowned, rubbing small circles on his back, "Aww, it's okay. It's okay, baby boy. Shh." I coo, bouncing him softly so he could slowly ease back into his sleep.

After a couple seconds go by, I hear a deep, familiar voice that immediately sends shivers down my spine.

"Hey, beautiful."

I turn around to see Joe, wearing a white tank top that shows off his muscles and some black pajama pants. His hair was tied into a low, messy bun, and I just about lost it right there. I swear, he looked good in anything and everything. He was such a gorgeous man, period. How on earth did I get a hold of him?

"Hey.." I trailed off. Next thing I knew, Glynn was fast asleep on my shoulder. Joe chuckled, walking to me and placed his right arm around my waist as he also looked down at him.

"How the hell did you get him to fall asleep so fast?" He asks confusingly in a whisper. I smiled, rubbing his small back one more time before laying him back into his crib. I turned around, and our lips were nearly centimeters apart. He bit his lip, wrapping his other arm around me while I put both of my arms around his shoulders.

I lick my lips with a shrug, "I don't know, you tell me."

Joe stares into my eyes admiringly, grinning shortly before leaning into kiss me. His hands slowly fall from my waist to my ass within a second, squeezing it tightly. I squeal into the kiss, pushing him away slightly and turned around to see if the twins woke up due to the noise I made. I turn back around to face Joe and hit his chest playfully.

"Not in front of the kids," I plead. He rolls his eyes, moving his hands back to my waist.

"They're knocked out, it's alright." Joe points out, pecking my lips one more time before we both heard a knock at the door. We both jumped a little and turned to see JoJo standing there with a computer in her hands. She stays silent, staring at us for a couple of seconds before finally speaking up.

"Um, my English teacher wants to talk to you." JoJo says with a hint of nervousness but still stares at us blankly. Joe sighs to himself, dropping his hands from me.

"I'll be right back," He whispers to me as he walks towards JoJo. Joe takes the computer our of her hands, waking downstairs while JoJo follows, not uttering a single word to me. I raise my eyebrow slightly and look down.

What was that all about? I ask myself. About twenty minutes later, Joe comes back to the room.

"Sorry about that." He apologizes, I stood from the nursery chair that was in the room and walked to him.

"Is she alright?" I ask with concern. He raises his eyebrow at me and chuckles, "Yeah, why?"

I stare off into space for a little bit, wanting to bring it up but I decided not too. I was probably looking too much into it. I shook my head, "Nevermind. What happened?"

Joe sighs with his hand falling over his face, "JoJo's not doing so good in her class. Her teacher told me that she's failing."

"Failing?" My eyes widen a little bit, "How?"

He gives me a look, hoping I would catch his drift. Oh, then I nodded.

"This online learning thing has been very difficult for her, especially after Galina's passing. She just has a hard time focusing, and I know she turns in her homework, I make sure of that. But, I just don't think she's giving it her best effort." He explains.

"Have you ever talked to her about this?" I ask. Joe avoids eye contact with me and slightly turns away.

"She hates talking about it.." He trails off. I put my hand on his shoulder, and turned him back towards me gently. I could tell it broke him to pieces seeing JoJo like this. If he could turn back the clock, he would for her, but he couldn't.

"I just don't want to give her a hard time, you know?" He says, "She already has enough on her plate."

I understood his point of view. However, I had an idea to take some of the weight off of his shoulders. I smirked and snaked my arms around his waist, bringing him closer. Joe looked down at me and couldn't help but crack a smile.

"Maybe I can help," I bring up. "After all, English was my favorite class growing up. I never got lower than an A."

"Oh really?" Joe teases, "Then maybe we should put that to the test. I like that idea."

I smile up at him as he caresses the side of my face, "You know what else I would like?" He asks.

"What?"

"If you'd go on a date with me." Joe proposes with a challenging look on his face. He was very confident too, it was like he knew that I would agree. Well, he knew me well. There was no way that I was saying no.

"Sushi?" I ask, putting my best puppy dog eyes on. He rolled his eyes playfully before grabbing both sides of my face softly, "Yes, babygirl. Sushi." Joe mocks my voice in the last part, making me giggle and he then pecks me on the lips.

About two hours later, I asked Joe if he could come with me to Orlando to get some of my stuff from the house and pick up my dog. He was right, so was Pamela. I should've left a long time ago, and I can't believe I let him black mail me for so long. I could've asked for help but I refused to. I felt like such an idiot and I'm surprised everyone who told me to leave didn't give up on me. I mean, Joe nearly killed Sarath for me and could've gotten suspended. We both don't know what Vince was going to say to either of us by the time we go back to work; He saw what went down and including a lot of our co-workers. I was a little worried that the news would get out, but on the other hand, I was thankful that Joe was there for me.

We discussed the whole investigation thing and he had my back no matter what. Pamela and I agreed that I would be staying with her for the time being since there was no way in hell I would be continuing to stay with Sarath. I would finally be filing for a divorce, taking him to court, getting this sex tape and moving on with my life. I was done.

Joe got in contact with Josh to come over and check on the kids while he was gone and we both we're on our way. When we reached the house, he put the car in park and took the keys out the ignition. We both left the car and he came around to my side, holding my hand protectively as we walked up the steps.

"Try to chill, okay?" I whisper to him as I ring the doorbell. I could sense him getting worked up by how his hand was slightly shaking.

"I'm chill." He says nochantlantly, despite the intimidating look on his face. I give his hand a gentle squeeze before the door opens slowly, revealing a very beat up Sarath.

Immediately, I heard a quiet chuckle from Joe and I elbowed him in his side so he would stop. Sarath had a black eye, busted lip and his cheek bone was heavily bruised. He really fucked him up, and I wasn't mad about it. It's what he deserved.

"What's this?" Sarath looked at the both of us up and down, "So you're seeing him now?"

"Damn right." Joe shot back, stepping in front of me and got in his face. He was much taller than him too.

Sarath scoffed, backing up a little and then glared at me, "I should've known. I knew you were sleeping with him-"

"Keep talking to her like that and see what happens." Joe threatened, taking another step toward him. I put my hand on his shoulder, trying my best to pull him back and I stood in between the both of them.

"Wait a minute, Joe." I put my hands on his chest, pushing him back gently. He looks down at me and I reassure, "I got this, okay?"

Joe looked up at Sarath for a couple of seconds, then sighed. He nodded, stepping away from him, leaving space between the both of them. I turned back around to face Sarath and crossed my arms, "Listen, Sarath. What's going on between me and Joe is none of your business. I was faithful to you, for a very long time, but this marriage hasn't been working for awhile and you know that. I'm over it and I need to move on."

"So, what? Are you divorcing me?" He says with a laugh, "You're making a huge mistake."

"I let the police know about the tape." I shut him down, making him wipe the stupid smile off of his face. Got him there.

"So either you delete the tape, or they will be on your ass. You're choice." I said, not feeling any fear from him anymore. Even though I wasn't facing him, I sensed Joe looking down at me with a impressed smirk on his face.

"Now I'm here to get my stuff, including my dog. I'd appreciate it if you'd move out of my way."

"You heard her." Joe said impatiently, not wanting me to repeat myself. Sarath stood there frozen in shock but was able to move a little to the left so I could get in. I brushed passed him and walked to the room while Joe followed.

I opened the door and was instantly greeted Ryu. He barked and jumped onto my legs, looking excited to see me. I bent down, giving him a kiss on his head before getting back up to get my bags from the closet.

"Hey, can you grab my Eddie Guerrero jacket from the living room please?" I ask while putting my clothes in my bag. I heard a bunch of adorable giggles come from Joe, I raised my eyebrow and turned around to see him playing with Ryu. He was on the ground with Ryu on his lap, and Ryu leaned up to lick his face multiple times.

As if he couldn't get any more cuter. I chuckled, shaking my head before grabbing a pillow and throwing it at him.

"Damn, what was that for?" Joe looked at me with a goofy smile on his face.

"Can you help me out here, please?" I beg with a tired expression on my face, "This could go a lot faster, you know."

"Well excuse me, Justine." He smirks, teasing me by saying my middle name. I raise both of my eyebrows and crossed my arms. Then, I smirk myself.

"Wanna repeat that, Leati?"

"Leati?" He says with his eyebrow raised, then gets up on his feet. Joe then towers over me and crossed his arms as well.

"Those are fighting words, lil' girl. Keep it up." He challenges with a subtle smirk on his face. I bit my lip, trying to hold back my laugh.

"Who you calling lil' girl?" I try to put him into a head lock, but before I could even get there he quickly spears me into the bed behind us. We both laugh hysterically, and he leans up a little bit but still remains on top of me.

"Okay, seriously. We can't keep fucking around, can you please help me?" I try to catch my breath by how bad my stomach was hurting from all the laughing. Joe kisses my cheek before getting up, and offering me his hand.

"I gotchu." He says before I take his hand and he helps me back up.

After that, he and I got as much stuff packed as we could. Before I left, I told Sarath that I would be back to pick up the rest of my things. I also informed him that I would be seeing him in court to finally put this to rest. It didn't matter whether or not if he decided to give up the tape, he was going to face consequences anyway.

As we both put all of my stuff into my car's trunk, Joe asks, "So..are you free tomorrow night?"

"Yes," I raised my eyebrow with a grin. I closed the trunk shut and leaned against car.

"I was thinking, maybe I could pick you up at 8 for our date?" Joe questions but sort of avoids eye contact with me. I smile at him, adoring his shyness. How come he was all of a sudden so nervous?

"That sounds great." I stand on my tippy toes, and peck him on the lips. Joe bits his lip, looks down for a little bit shyly before leaning in to give me one last kiss on the lips.

"Cool." He says, then clears his throat, trying to keep his composure, "Drive safe, tell Pamela I said what's up."

I chuckle, alternating Ryu's leash to my other hand as I turn around, "I will, I'll text you when I get there."

Joe and I say our final goodbyes before I got into my car and he walked to his. I sat Ryu in the front seat, and closed the door. I took a deep breath as I turned the keys into the ignition.

Do not fuck this up, Mercedes. 

***

Authors Note; Sorry for the extremely long wait on the update. There's been a lot of things going on in my life and it's been really hard for me to find the time to focus on my stories. Bare with me and please me patient, I promise I'll update whenever I get free time. :)

New Faces Mentioned;

Rebecca AKA Becky Lynch

(Also, Justine is Sasha's real middle name. Leati is Roman's real first name but he normally just goes by Joe. )

(Roman actually called Sasha Sushi when they hugged in the clip above 💞 )