Post by Stormm on May 16, 2015 12:52:40 GMT -5
She stood in the opened doorway to the renovated barn that stood erect on the estate that Michaels Manor also shared. The cloud cover masked the sun, but did not prevent its presence from the world as the daylight still cast a shadow on Lindsay as she settled just inside of the building. Justin had converted it into his own personal gym after purchasing the estate back from the bank many years ago, and even put in a loft apartment for trainers to use when they came for personal sessions with the Force of Nature. Though, Justin, himself, had used it on occasion as well.
The silhouette that Lindsay had become went unnoticed by her husband, as he continued to sweat out his frustrations on a punching bag on the other side of the gym. She gazed upon him through the orange ropes of the squared circle that had been assembled in the middle of the gym, his black suit would be all but ruined by the time he calmed down. "He'll never wear that one again." Her thoughts spoken aloud were only for her own benefit, as the loud thuds from his fists crashing into the heavily taped up bag would have easily drowned out the sound of her voice, if not for the blaring music doing that job well enough.
He had every reason to be upset that Saturday afternoon, however, as the couple had just gotten back from the funeral of Francis Alexander. A man that once helped Damian Sorrow torture Justin, had become a crucial piece of the puzzle that needed put back together. Francis and his brother Robert had become Justin's eyes, ears, and safety at times, in his campaign to find the missing Southwind Gardens patients that disappeared shortly after Havoc Entertainment acquired the mental facility just outside of Wichita, Kansas last year. While the move from the outdated, and now completely torched, facilities to a new multi-million dollar campus was a decent excuse for displaced patients, Justin still knew he had an obligation to those missing to get them back to safety, and to get them the help they needed, that they deserved, and that they never truly received before.
Three of the five missing had now been returned to the temporary facility, but Southwind was now short a man, and Justin could do little more than blame himself. He could do quite a bit to mask what he felt was his fault, and could use his family and friends as a great excuse for why he's lucky to not have been the one that walked into that firefight, but the fact remained that he ultimately sent Francis, and three twin cities police officers, to their deaths.
Lindsay, still having gone unnoticed, walked around to the other side of the wrestling ring, and perched on the steel steps. She was to blame for Justin's current state of mind as well. The two had a long overdue conversation a couple of nights prior about certain aspect of their separation from a year and a half ago, and it was certainly troubling for the both of them, but more so for the blonde haired vixen. What had made it worse was that she had confided in others before she could bring herself to tell Justin what she had done, while he had waited to make sure she was the first to know.
"What is it now? Did you leave someone off of the list on who you told about your vacation before me, or was there someone else that you fucked that you didn't tell me about?!" His punches sped up as he spit his venom of frustration towards his wife.
There were already tears running down her face, she felt bad enough for what she had done, and even worse for waiting so long to tell the only man she loved as much as Justin, but for him to be as angry as he was and to blow it out of proportion like that made matters worse. "We didn't have sex, I told you that, and he was the only one, Justin." She wept.
The Force of Nature lowered his fists and wiped the sweat from his brow with the right sleeve of his suit jacket before taking it off, and tossing it to the floor. "He's my best friend!" He shrieked before loosening his tie and pounding his fists into the punching bag a few more times. "Was..." He paused. "Is..."
A smile came to his face as a single tear rolled down each cheek, which he quickly wiped away. The irony in the situation was the incident that had happened between him and Catie the week before hand. Lindsay had confided in Catie about it at some point, and apparently she took it well enough, and forgave Lindsay right away; though it was still in the air on her feelings towards Brian on the whole thing. But what started out as drinking his sorrows away with her about the deaths in Minnesota, had turned into Catie spilling the beans about their spouses, and the two of them getting black out drunk together.
"You and Catie have this, well..." Lindsay choked on her words, and was aware at what had happened between her husband and mutual friend, but didn't hold it against either of them. "I don't know how to explain it, and Brian..."
Justin quickly interrupted her. "As hard as I try, I'm not really that mad at you." His head hung as he admitted his true feelings. "The worst part of this is that I didn't even know my two best friends were having troubles, and neither one of them felt like they could talk to me about it." He struck the punching bag once more and started to rub his sore, ruddled knuckles. "You don't think Catie and I know how awkward our friendship makes you and Brian? We can see it on both of your faces every time we're all together." Opening up to his wife, he couldn't turn his gaze from the floor. "Our friendship is unique, I'll give you that, and it only makes sense that you and Brian wanted to try and understand it. But even if you had gone through with it, you'll never truly understand."
"You weren't in the same place last year as you are right now, Justin, I hope you realize that. There are things that all of us wanted to be able to tell you, but we didn't feel like we could." Lindsay admitted as she pushed herself off of the ring steps and brushed off her black dress that, much like the rest of her wardrobe, still didn't fit right after her pregnancy. "You've come a long way, and are in a much better way than you have been in years. I love you, and I don't want this whole stupid situation to come between us." She had inched her way to Justin's side and grabbed his right hand, holding it in both of hers. "Just don't hold it against either of us for accepting the friendship you two have, whether we are able to fully understand it or not."
Letting out one of those signature Michaels sighs, he looked, really looked deep, into his Lindsay's eyes for the first time in forty-eight hours. "I just don't need the people closest to me playing mind games with me when I've been nothing but up front with all of you. I deal with enough of that psychological bullshit from Damian while trying to get those poor people the help they need, and to make it worse, I'm getting it from all ends now. Ever since Showtime put that stupid mark on me, he's been trying to get in my head as well." He paused for a moment, and both of them grimaced at the thought of the baby rattles that Justin was still in possession of.
Planting a wet one on Justin's sweaty cheek, Lindsay smiled, really smiled without forcing herself to, for the first time in weeks. "I know it's not an ideal way to start, or, well, continue to build trust between us, but it's a start." Her baby blues seemed to sparkle, and not just from the florescent lighting in the gym. "I would never play with your head like that either, seriously anyway." She said with a flirtatious tone. "You need to stop letting Damian get to you so much, he's in prison, his words are the only weapons he has, and if you take away his ability to manipulate you, he's powerless."
The fresh, earthy scent of a spring's rain came rushing into the gym as the couple noticed the slow, steady fall of the Midwest shower through the open doors. Justin wrapped an arm around Lindsay, pulled her in close, and pressed his sweat drenched suit against her. "There are just some things that are hard to shrug off. It's definitely easier said than done."
"I never said it was going to be easy. But it's definitely not as hard as shouldering the burden of taking everything they said to heart. You either let it all build up like you've done before, and we repeat this vicious cycle we've been through already, or you pick your battles, and let all that unimportant nonsense be just that, unimportant nonsense." Lindsay finished her thought before she noticed the sweat seeping through her dress, and pushed herself away from Justin with disgusted, yet playful, smile. "I'll never wear this one again." She joked.
Despite his sore and bloodied knuckles, Justin struck the punching bag once more. "You're probably right, but I think the only way to keep it all from bothering me too much is to stay one step ahead. Damian is always out in front of me, and I think I need to figure out how to do that right back to him if I'm ever going to get those last two patients back, or ever have a chance of finding Kaden."
"I don't think that's what I meant, exactly, but it's better to act than react." Lindsay conceded.
Her comment seemed to have gone right over her husband's head as the wheels began to turn for the Force of Nature. "As far as The Black Hand is concerned, it all makes sense on how to maneuver past their advances. They are definitely more reactionary than anything, no matter what their voice is trying to preach, and they are always stronger as a whole." Justin's voice trailed off as his thoughts about The Black Hand turned to individual thoughts of Sadistic, Grimm, and Mr. Showtime. "They are a house divided at Living a Legacy, each in their own matches, and even if Sadistic and Grimm have yet to target me, why not beat them to the punch?"
Lindsay seemed as pleased as punch with herself. The two had seemingly, and seamlessly, made up after a few days of horrid awkwardness, while at the same time diverting away from the sadness that had plagued them. It was not only due to the aforementioned awkward situation, but also the deaths of the men who gave their lives for the safety of others. "You've still got a few days before you usually get into wrestling mode, are you sure you wouldn't rather focus your attention elsewhere?" She questioned.
"I already planned on visiting the "good doctor" tomorrow, you know that." He had a clear-cut agenda on his next visit to the Sedgwick County Prison, and with a two and a half hour drive between Kansas City and Wichita, plenty of time to fine-tine the details. With the seventh Living a Legacy on the horizon, and another trip to the semi-finals for the second year in a row, Justin was already getting into a Stormmy state of mind. "And I think I'll make Aaron babysit the twins and take you out tonight, that should make for a nice evening for just the two of us to spend some time together; not talking about doctors, missing patients, or even wrestling; and who knows what afterwards."
Lindsay smiled as her cheeks turned a rosy red, and her gaze turned towards the floor. "Justin." Her voice cracked with merry embarrassment, and her husband placed his pointer finger on her chin, and lifted her head up before giving her a kiss of his own. After the loving moment had passed, Lindsay made sure to keep Justin's head where it was, since she knew it would tend to wander in times like that. "So what about Michael?"
"Mikey!" Stormm said in jest. "Chances are, that son of a bitch already has something planned." He admitted. "Our semi-final match is the first of the evening too, so he's going to try and get to me early, more so than he has tried to do already. I just need to figure out how to turn his game into my advantage." With a few more well placed strikes on the punching bag, Justin stepped away, and grabbed his wife by the hand, leading her towards to doors. "Ace took me out two years ago in the quarter-finals, and I couldn't get past Murdoc last year in the semis, so I'll be damned if I do any less than the finals this year, and I'm not going to let Showtime ruin that!"
"It's probably going to be the best wrestling match of the night." Lindsay said, her time working in the industry definitely surfacing, and shades of her late father shining through. "As I'm sure you know, and as much as you don't want to hear it, you and Mr. Superstar Man are about the two most equal wrestlers on the roster."
She was right, not just about how equal the two really were, or with how similar their wrestling styles were, Stormm and Mr. Showtime were easily the two most technical wrestlers in Pure Class Wrestling, but also at how much it pained him to hear it. Which means it would be just as painful for Michael Wryght to hear as well. "It doesn't bother me as much as you'd think, but I'm also a man who can be humbled, unlike Mikey, and there's nothing he won't do to get under my skin to ensure his first, and biggest, singles victory over me." Stormm admitted, thinking of all the things Wryght might try to pull. The two had battled it out, one on one, on two other occasion in PCW history, and Justin had gotten the better of Michael on both of those occasions. He would like nothing better than for that trend to continue, while Mr. Showtime would love nothing better than to break that trend, and upset Stormm on his road to a second Icemann Invitational Tournament victory.
The light rain had stopped, but the fragrance that accompanied it still lingered as Mr. and Mrs. Michaels stood in the doorway of the gym. "What if scarier and scariest get involved?" Lindsay pondered.
"Michael isn't stupid, he's not going to risk his chance at advancing in the tournament and securing the World title contendership for the Black Hand by having Grimm and Sadistic interfere. His only advantage will be with his words, and two can play that game!"
Letting go of Justin's hand, Lindsay placed hers on the back of her husband's head. "It's so awesome seeing you this determined again, it's really starting to feel like I'm getting the real Justin back." Her words could have been conceived as hurtful, but he was well aware of what she meant, and he actually agreed with her. "It's sexy." She said, as she wrapped her free arm around his neck, and the two shared a loving embraced. "But you really do need a shower."
The two laughed, and Justin was the first to exit the gym, headed back towards the mansion they called home. Lindsay stood there, and watched her husband walk away. "By the way." Justin paused and turned back towards Lindsay as the rain started to fall ever so gently again. "I asked Mom and Dad to watch the twins for us next weekend. You were there the first time I won nine years ago, and you have been there for me at every one since; it wouldn't feel right if you were here this year, instead."
The silhouette that Lindsay had become went unnoticed by her husband, as he continued to sweat out his frustrations on a punching bag on the other side of the gym. She gazed upon him through the orange ropes of the squared circle that had been assembled in the middle of the gym, his black suit would be all but ruined by the time he calmed down. "He'll never wear that one again." Her thoughts spoken aloud were only for her own benefit, as the loud thuds from his fists crashing into the heavily taped up bag would have easily drowned out the sound of her voice, if not for the blaring music doing that job well enough.
He had every reason to be upset that Saturday afternoon, however, as the couple had just gotten back from the funeral of Francis Alexander. A man that once helped Damian Sorrow torture Justin, had become a crucial piece of the puzzle that needed put back together. Francis and his brother Robert had become Justin's eyes, ears, and safety at times, in his campaign to find the missing Southwind Gardens patients that disappeared shortly after Havoc Entertainment acquired the mental facility just outside of Wichita, Kansas last year. While the move from the outdated, and now completely torched, facilities to a new multi-million dollar campus was a decent excuse for displaced patients, Justin still knew he had an obligation to those missing to get them back to safety, and to get them the help they needed, that they deserved, and that they never truly received before.
Three of the five missing had now been returned to the temporary facility, but Southwind was now short a man, and Justin could do little more than blame himself. He could do quite a bit to mask what he felt was his fault, and could use his family and friends as a great excuse for why he's lucky to not have been the one that walked into that firefight, but the fact remained that he ultimately sent Francis, and three twin cities police officers, to their deaths.
Lindsay, still having gone unnoticed, walked around to the other side of the wrestling ring, and perched on the steel steps. She was to blame for Justin's current state of mind as well. The two had a long overdue conversation a couple of nights prior about certain aspect of their separation from a year and a half ago, and it was certainly troubling for the both of them, but more so for the blonde haired vixen. What had made it worse was that she had confided in others before she could bring herself to tell Justin what she had done, while he had waited to make sure she was the first to know.
"What is it now? Did you leave someone off of the list on who you told about your vacation before me, or was there someone else that you fucked that you didn't tell me about?!" His punches sped up as he spit his venom of frustration towards his wife.
There were already tears running down her face, she felt bad enough for what she had done, and even worse for waiting so long to tell the only man she loved as much as Justin, but for him to be as angry as he was and to blow it out of proportion like that made matters worse. "We didn't have sex, I told you that, and he was the only one, Justin." She wept.
The Force of Nature lowered his fists and wiped the sweat from his brow with the right sleeve of his suit jacket before taking it off, and tossing it to the floor. "He's my best friend!" He shrieked before loosening his tie and pounding his fists into the punching bag a few more times. "Was..." He paused. "Is..."
A smile came to his face as a single tear rolled down each cheek, which he quickly wiped away. The irony in the situation was the incident that had happened between him and Catie the week before hand. Lindsay had confided in Catie about it at some point, and apparently she took it well enough, and forgave Lindsay right away; though it was still in the air on her feelings towards Brian on the whole thing. But what started out as drinking his sorrows away with her about the deaths in Minnesota, had turned into Catie spilling the beans about their spouses, and the two of them getting black out drunk together.
"You and Catie have this, well..." Lindsay choked on her words, and was aware at what had happened between her husband and mutual friend, but didn't hold it against either of them. "I don't know how to explain it, and Brian..."
Justin quickly interrupted her. "As hard as I try, I'm not really that mad at you." His head hung as he admitted his true feelings. "The worst part of this is that I didn't even know my two best friends were having troubles, and neither one of them felt like they could talk to me about it." He struck the punching bag once more and started to rub his sore, ruddled knuckles. "You don't think Catie and I know how awkward our friendship makes you and Brian? We can see it on both of your faces every time we're all together." Opening up to his wife, he couldn't turn his gaze from the floor. "Our friendship is unique, I'll give you that, and it only makes sense that you and Brian wanted to try and understand it. But even if you had gone through with it, you'll never truly understand."
"You weren't in the same place last year as you are right now, Justin, I hope you realize that. There are things that all of us wanted to be able to tell you, but we didn't feel like we could." Lindsay admitted as she pushed herself off of the ring steps and brushed off her black dress that, much like the rest of her wardrobe, still didn't fit right after her pregnancy. "You've come a long way, and are in a much better way than you have been in years. I love you, and I don't want this whole stupid situation to come between us." She had inched her way to Justin's side and grabbed his right hand, holding it in both of hers. "Just don't hold it against either of us for accepting the friendship you two have, whether we are able to fully understand it or not."
Letting out one of those signature Michaels sighs, he looked, really looked deep, into his Lindsay's eyes for the first time in forty-eight hours. "I just don't need the people closest to me playing mind games with me when I've been nothing but up front with all of you. I deal with enough of that psychological bullshit from Damian while trying to get those poor people the help they need, and to make it worse, I'm getting it from all ends now. Ever since Showtime put that stupid mark on me, he's been trying to get in my head as well." He paused for a moment, and both of them grimaced at the thought of the baby rattles that Justin was still in possession of.
Planting a wet one on Justin's sweaty cheek, Lindsay smiled, really smiled without forcing herself to, for the first time in weeks. "I know it's not an ideal way to start, or, well, continue to build trust between us, but it's a start." Her baby blues seemed to sparkle, and not just from the florescent lighting in the gym. "I would never play with your head like that either, seriously anyway." She said with a flirtatious tone. "You need to stop letting Damian get to you so much, he's in prison, his words are the only weapons he has, and if you take away his ability to manipulate you, he's powerless."
The fresh, earthy scent of a spring's rain came rushing into the gym as the couple noticed the slow, steady fall of the Midwest shower through the open doors. Justin wrapped an arm around Lindsay, pulled her in close, and pressed his sweat drenched suit against her. "There are just some things that are hard to shrug off. It's definitely easier said than done."
"I never said it was going to be easy. But it's definitely not as hard as shouldering the burden of taking everything they said to heart. You either let it all build up like you've done before, and we repeat this vicious cycle we've been through already, or you pick your battles, and let all that unimportant nonsense be just that, unimportant nonsense." Lindsay finished her thought before she noticed the sweat seeping through her dress, and pushed herself away from Justin with disgusted, yet playful, smile. "I'll never wear this one again." She joked.
Despite his sore and bloodied knuckles, Justin struck the punching bag once more. "You're probably right, but I think the only way to keep it all from bothering me too much is to stay one step ahead. Damian is always out in front of me, and I think I need to figure out how to do that right back to him if I'm ever going to get those last two patients back, or ever have a chance of finding Kaden."
"I don't think that's what I meant, exactly, but it's better to act than react." Lindsay conceded.
Her comment seemed to have gone right over her husband's head as the wheels began to turn for the Force of Nature. "As far as The Black Hand is concerned, it all makes sense on how to maneuver past their advances. They are definitely more reactionary than anything, no matter what their voice is trying to preach, and they are always stronger as a whole." Justin's voice trailed off as his thoughts about The Black Hand turned to individual thoughts of Sadistic, Grimm, and Mr. Showtime. "They are a house divided at Living a Legacy, each in their own matches, and even if Sadistic and Grimm have yet to target me, why not beat them to the punch?"
Lindsay seemed as pleased as punch with herself. The two had seemingly, and seamlessly, made up after a few days of horrid awkwardness, while at the same time diverting away from the sadness that had plagued them. It was not only due to the aforementioned awkward situation, but also the deaths of the men who gave their lives for the safety of others. "You've still got a few days before you usually get into wrestling mode, are you sure you wouldn't rather focus your attention elsewhere?" She questioned.
"I already planned on visiting the "good doctor" tomorrow, you know that." He had a clear-cut agenda on his next visit to the Sedgwick County Prison, and with a two and a half hour drive between Kansas City and Wichita, plenty of time to fine-tine the details. With the seventh Living a Legacy on the horizon, and another trip to the semi-finals for the second year in a row, Justin was already getting into a Stormmy state of mind. "And I think I'll make Aaron babysit the twins and take you out tonight, that should make for a nice evening for just the two of us to spend some time together; not talking about doctors, missing patients, or even wrestling; and who knows what afterwards."
Lindsay smiled as her cheeks turned a rosy red, and her gaze turned towards the floor. "Justin." Her voice cracked with merry embarrassment, and her husband placed his pointer finger on her chin, and lifted her head up before giving her a kiss of his own. After the loving moment had passed, Lindsay made sure to keep Justin's head where it was, since she knew it would tend to wander in times like that. "So what about Michael?"
"Mikey!" Stormm said in jest. "Chances are, that son of a bitch already has something planned." He admitted. "Our semi-final match is the first of the evening too, so he's going to try and get to me early, more so than he has tried to do already. I just need to figure out how to turn his game into my advantage." With a few more well placed strikes on the punching bag, Justin stepped away, and grabbed his wife by the hand, leading her towards to doors. "Ace took me out two years ago in the quarter-finals, and I couldn't get past Murdoc last year in the semis, so I'll be damned if I do any less than the finals this year, and I'm not going to let Showtime ruin that!"
"It's probably going to be the best wrestling match of the night." Lindsay said, her time working in the industry definitely surfacing, and shades of her late father shining through. "As I'm sure you know, and as much as you don't want to hear it, you and Mr. Superstar Man are about the two most equal wrestlers on the roster."
She was right, not just about how equal the two really were, or with how similar their wrestling styles were, Stormm and Mr. Showtime were easily the two most technical wrestlers in Pure Class Wrestling, but also at how much it pained him to hear it. Which means it would be just as painful for Michael Wryght to hear as well. "It doesn't bother me as much as you'd think, but I'm also a man who can be humbled, unlike Mikey, and there's nothing he won't do to get under my skin to ensure his first, and biggest, singles victory over me." Stormm admitted, thinking of all the things Wryght might try to pull. The two had battled it out, one on one, on two other occasion in PCW history, and Justin had gotten the better of Michael on both of those occasions. He would like nothing better than for that trend to continue, while Mr. Showtime would love nothing better than to break that trend, and upset Stormm on his road to a second Icemann Invitational Tournament victory.
The light rain had stopped, but the fragrance that accompanied it still lingered as Mr. and Mrs. Michaels stood in the doorway of the gym. "What if scarier and scariest get involved?" Lindsay pondered.
"Michael isn't stupid, he's not going to risk his chance at advancing in the tournament and securing the World title contendership for the Black Hand by having Grimm and Sadistic interfere. His only advantage will be with his words, and two can play that game!"
Letting go of Justin's hand, Lindsay placed hers on the back of her husband's head. "It's so awesome seeing you this determined again, it's really starting to feel like I'm getting the real Justin back." Her words could have been conceived as hurtful, but he was well aware of what she meant, and he actually agreed with her. "It's sexy." She said, as she wrapped her free arm around his neck, and the two shared a loving embraced. "But you really do need a shower."
The two laughed, and Justin was the first to exit the gym, headed back towards the mansion they called home. Lindsay stood there, and watched her husband walk away. "By the way." Justin paused and turned back towards Lindsay as the rain started to fall ever so gently again. "I asked Mom and Dad to watch the twins for us next weekend. You were there the first time I won nine years ago, and you have been there for me at every one since; it wouldn't feel right if you were here this year, instead."
