↞p r o l o g u e↠

2 0 0 2

Walking into my dorm room I dropped my bag by the door and dropped down dramatically on my bed. All I wanted to do was change my clothes and go to bed. Between my classes, homework and the tutoring I was doing I was completely exhausted. I’ve been so caught up in school that I barely saw anyone I knew.

Lately, my dormmate was sneaking out and messing with some guy who looked like he was crazy as hell. She was a mess and thank God, it was our last year of college or else I would have went crazy watching her be a complete zombie over dick.

Right when I was about to doze off my phone buzzed signaling I had a text message. When I looked at my phone a small frown came across my face reading Tiana’s message.

[Received] Tiana
What are you doing? Hey, girl I'm at this gym, I need you to come get me, please, it's an emergency!
2:34 pm

[Sent] Darnell
Nun, I'm laying down. What's wrong? What Gym? What are you doing at a Gym?
2:35 pm

[Received] Tiana
Rick's Gym on 21st ave.
2:40 pm

[Sent] Darnell
On my way.
2:41 pm

[Received] Tiana
Thanks.
2:44 pm

[Sent] Darnell
Ok.
2:48 pm

As soon as I built up enough energy to get up and put on my shoes when Ashley came walking in the room with Hencha and JoJo behind her.

"Where are you going?" Ashley asked.

"To go get Tiana's crazy ass." I answered.

"What trouble did her crazy self get into now?" Hencha asked.

"I told y'all, her messing with that wannabe drug addict was a bad idea." JoJo said.

"First of all, Jon is not a wannabe drug addict, he's a struggling wrestler and who knows what mess this girl damn got herself into." I said.

"Same difference, Darnell." JoJo said.

"We're coming with you just incase, we gotta beat a bitch the fuck up." I said.

They changed their shoes and put on sneakers before leaving and heading out to my car. By the time we got to Rick's Gym. We walked in and all these people were staring at us.

"What the fuck y'all looking at?" JoJo yelled.

"JoJo, shut up." Hencha said.

Rick, the owner waalked up to us and I was ready to slap that smirk off his face.

"Hello, ladies, how can I help you guys today?" He asked.

"Where's Tiana?" I asked.

"She's in the back with her boyfriend, Jon." Rick answered.

Sucking my teeth I went into the back of the gym with the girls following me.

"I swear I'm gonna get James to beat Rick's old ass if he keep looking at us like that." Ashley said.

"Where this girl at?" Hencha asked as we walked up to Jon.

"She locked herself in the bathroom." Jon answered.

We walked to the bathroom and found Tiana in the corner of the bathroom crying.

"Tee, what's wrong?" I asked squatting down in front of her.

"I'm....I'm..."

"Girl, speak up." Ashley said.

"I'm pregnant." Tiana said, crying.

"What?" I asked.

"Congrats." Hencha said.

"Hencha, no, Tiana, what the hell are you going to do with a baby in college?" JoJo asked.

"I do not know." Tiana answered.

"Does Jon know?" Ashley asked.

"No, he cannot know." Tiana replied.

"Why not?" Hencha asked.

"Have you seen the man? He is not capable of being a father." Tiana responded.

"What are you going to do then?" I asked.

"We need to leave and never look back." Tiana replied.

"We'll do whatever you want, Tiana." Hencha said.

2 0 0 3

"One more push, Tiana, one more push. The baby's nearly here, you can even see most of its body now." The doctor said.

"You can do it, Arannia, it's just one more push." I said holding Tiana's hand as she pushed for her life.

One more push indeed did the trick, heaving a child into the world of the living.

A shrill cry rose up into the day, confirming the fact that the newborn was a girl.

I looked down to see a first glimpse of my Goddaughter. She had very light hair, just like Jon. I smiled.

"She's definitely a mixture of Jon and you." I said.

"Do you want to cut the cord? Darnell?" The doctor asked.

I snapped out of it finally and nodded. I cut my Goddaughter's umbilical cord and looked at her as the nurse took her over to the warming table. The baby was crying and she had strong lungs.

"You did it Rachel. You did it." I said.

"She's here! I can't believe I have a daughter!" She said.

I wrapped my arms around Tiana and gave her a soft hug. I kissed the top of her head and watched as the nurse wrapped up baby NuNu and bring her over to Tiana. Tiana held her arms out and took her daughter into her arms.

"Oh wow! You're so beautiful!" Tiana said to her daughter.

"She's perfect." I said.

"She's the most wonderful baby I've ever seen!" She said.

Tiana leaned down and kissed the top of her child's head.

Mid-2 0 0 3

Tiana came to the door, opening it quietly, not to disturb Darnell; she had just given birth minutes ago and was now resting. Tiana came by her bed side, sitting in the chair, stroking her cheek, which woke her up.

"Hi." Darnell whispered, smiling.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" She asked, smiling back.

"Tired, but ok overall, where is she now?" Darnell asked.

"They're still checking her, making sure she's healthy and getting her stats down." Tiana said.

Darnell nodded, sitting up, while Tiana handed her the cup of water, so she could take a sip. Darnell gave her back the cup.

"So, what are you gonna name her?" She asked placing the cup down.

"If I had knew I was pregnant, I would have been prepared." Darnell asked.

"I still can't believe you did not know you were pregnant, Darnell." Tiana replied.

"I had light periods and no weight gain. I felt normal. How was I supposed to know?" Darnell said.

Just then the door opened, revealing a nurse, rolling in a baby bed.

"I brought someone, who wanted to say hello." The smiling nurse said, lifting the small baby out, handing her to Darnell, before leaving. Darnell held her daughter close her chest as she cooed quietly. She felt tears coming to her eyes as she stroked her cheek with her finger.

"Hi sweet little baby." She said quietly. Tiana smiled seeing how her bestfriend interacted with her child.

"Oh, Darnell, she looks so much like you." Tiana said, smiling.

"That means she's beautiful, like her mother." She joked, holding her daughter's hand lightly. The new mom was in complete awe of her newborn daughter.

"You wanna hold her?" Darnell asked. Tiana nodded, taking the baby gently, into her large arms, leaning back into the soft chair cradling her.

"Hey there booboo, you wanna open your eyes and say hi to your mommy and auntie?" Tiana whispered to the baby.

"I know what I'm going to name her." Darnell said.

"What?" Tiana asked.

"Gemini." She answered.

2 0 1 4

"Hey Dean, this came in the fan mailbox for you." One of the WWE workers said, handing the sealed envelope to Jon.

"Thanks, man." Jon said, taking the sealed envelope he'd set down on the coffee table.

"Are you going to open it?" Colby asked.

"Yeah, are you? It looks important." Joe added.

"Fine." Jon said, picking up the sealed envelope and opening it.

Jonathan,

I have been looking for you all over the place until I recently saw you on my television on RAW. I'm so proud of you for achieving your dreams.

The reason why I'm sending you this letter is because you have a daughter, we have a daughter. Her name is Nuiene but her nickname is NuNu. She was born January 4 2003.

I can only imagine what you're feeling right now. Shock over the fact that you have a daughter. Anger at the fact that I kept her from you. I'm so, so very sorry. I know that doesn't help. There are no good excuses. I can only say that I was young, and at the time, I didn't see another way out. We were together such a short time, and we didn't really find out a lot about each other in those few months.

That day at the gym when the girls came and got me is when I found out I was pregnant. I was only newly twenty-two, I had no job skills, no money. You were just as young, you were a wild man, using alcohol, and had no family in the area.

I was scared. I didn't think you would want the baby so I never told you. My pregnancy was rather uneventful, thank goodness.

I know. That wasn't my choice to make. Believe me, I know. I was wrong. I took away your choice, and I'm so sorry about that. If I could take it back, I would, but I can't.

I tried to find you then, Jon. I swear I did. I called your cell phone number, but it was disconnected.  You'd never told me what town you were from. All I knew was Ohio. Finally, I just...gave up. Maybe I shouldn't have. But I was out of options.

Recently, I found the lumps in my breast. I'd been feeling sick for a while. I was getting tired more easily, and just felt different. By the time I went to the doctor, it was so advanced, had already spread to my lymph nodes, that he gave me six months. We tried chemo, but it was advanced enough that I didn't respond to it much at all. I've finally accepted that it's my time.

I've tried to prepare Nunu, but there's really no preparing a teenage girl for that. I told her about you.

I hope this letter finds you. I know you may never be able to forgive me for keeping you from your daughter. I wouldn't blame you.

If you need to find us, search up, Darnell Nicole on Google and you'll find her company's building. But know that I never stopped thinking of you and thank you for the beautiful, gift you gave me.

Love, Tiana

"That's a long fan letter." Joe said.

"It's not a fan letter." Jon said looking at the date written on the envelope. It was written four months ago and he's just now getting it.

"What is it, Jon?" Colby asked.

"I need to go home." Jon answered.

"Why?" Joe asked.

"Somebody Google Darnell Nicole for me." Jon said.

"Jon, what's going on?" Colby asked.

"I have a daughter." Jon answered.