Fallen

Trembling hands held the white plastic stick in her hand, the plus sign permanently seared into her retinas. Tears stung her eyes as she held it tightly against her chest, not believing what was happening. What was she going to do? Why did this happen? They used protection every time they had sex! Mariah stood on shaky legs from the toilet she sat on for the past half hour and blinked, a flowing river of tears rushing down her face instantly. Maybe – maybe there was a way to deal with this without her boyfriend knowing. Abortion was definitely an option, but did Mariah want to put herself through that? She was 25 years old, had a successful career and she wasn’t hurting financially. A baby wasn’t in her plans though – not her immediate plans anyway.

Mariah’s head snapped up when she heard the unmistakable thudding of boots coming in the direction of the bathroom and quickly tossed the plastic stick in the trash can. She wiped the tears from her eyes the best she could and rushed to the sink turning the water on, pretending like she’d just finished washing her face. Good thing there was a towel hanging nearby or else Mariah would’ve been caught in her deception. Telling him right now wasn’t an option. She just needed time to process everything and to figure out what she was going to do about the baby. Then she would talk to him about it.

“Mariah, you alright?”

“Y-Yeah, I’ll be out in a minute!” She called out in reply, splashing her face with cold water and dabbed it with the towel, hoping he didn’t notice her slightly swollen eyes from crying.

As soon as she opened the bathroom door, she was swept up into her boyfriend’s arms and his mouth quickly found hers in a searing kiss. Mariah moaned softly in his mouth, her fingers weaving through his long dark hair and tried getting lost in the moment. But she couldn’t. Another face suddenly flashed through her mind while Mariah continued kissing her boyfriend and the emotional pain flooded over her all over again. Pale blue eyes, curly haphazard dishwater blonde hair and not to mention his perfect muscular 6’4 frame. Mariah broke the kiss abruptly and stared back into electric blues that didn’t match…his.

She missed Jon.

It was hard working for the same company as him, but Mariah managed. They’d known each other since Jon’s Independent days when he traveled the road as Jon Moxley. That was until he joined the WWE -World Wrestling Entertainment- the biggest global wrestling organization and they changed his name to Dean Ambrose. He would always be Jon to her though. They were best friends throughout the wrestling world, meeting in Dragon Gate USA –A professional American wrestling promotion that was an expansion of the Japanese version based in Pennsylvania- and instantly hit it off. Mariah ended up becoming a brief valet of Jon’s and then quickly switched to staying behind the scenes as his personal assistant. Lord knew the man needed it wrestling for countless organizations – sometimes 2 in one day depending. Mariah thought nothing could destroy their deep bond and friendship, but she was sadly mistaken.

Along with the friendship came a deep attraction both couldn’t ignore and they ended up having sex. It was the night he’d won the CZW –Combat Zone Wrestling- World Heavyweight Championship from B-Boy and they’d gotten plastered with heavy booze. One kiss lead to caressing and touching, which followed clothes disappearing and the joining of their bodies. The next day, Mariah woke up to an empty bed with a note from Jon stating he’d be at the gym whenever she wanted to join him. Mariah tried keeping in shape with the wrestlers and ate the best she could, given the circumstances. She was all smiles walking into the gym and stopped at the sight of Jon talking with DJ Hyde’s sister, Heidi, who had recently come into the company to help him run it. DJ Hyde was the owner of CZW. Heartbroken at their obvious flirtation and realizing the night she spent with Jon meant nothing to him, Mariah left the gym without him knowing and ended their partnership, relationship, friendship – whatever it was they had.

In 2010, Mariah received a phone call from the WWE asking if she would work for them as a personal assistant to one of their groups on the roster. They were called the Nexus – upcoming stars from WWE’s developmental given the opportunity to show the world what they were made of. Mariah took the job, clicking with everyone, including one of her now best friends Alyson, who had dated Wade Barrett at the time. His real name was Stu Bennett and he was the leader of the Nexus, a sweet guy behind the scenes, but a royal dick in front of the camera. During this time, she made her current boyfriend, Windham Rotunda, but he was known to the WWE world at the time as Husky Harris. Nowadays, he was Bray Wyatt, the leader of the infamous Wyatt Family and she was their personal assistant. They’d been together ever since and Windham had no idea about her past with Jon, hoping he never did discover her secret.

Everything was going great for Mariah. She had a fantastic job with a loving man who worshipped the ground she walked on and it seemed as though the bubble between them would never burst. That was until 2011 rolled around and she found out Jon had been offered a WWE developmental contract for their, at the time, developmental organization FCW. It was now known as NXT, change from FCW to NXT in August 2012. Mariah handled the news the best she could, keeping Windham in the dark and still had to this day. They’d been together for over 3 years now and she still couldn’t get Jon out of her mind, no matter what she did. So for a little less than a year, she had to dodge Jon and succeeded – up until the last week he was in NXT. It didn’t take long for WWE to see the raw potential, passion and talent Jon possessed, so they didn’t keep him in developmental long.

“Good morning.” Windham broke his beautiful girlfriend out of her deep thoughts, murmuring those words against her mouth and broke the kiss, their eyes meeting.

“Morning.”

Windham could sense something was bothering Mariah, but knew better than to push her to tell him and simply ran a finger down her soft cheek. “Are you feeling okay?” She’d been in the bathroom a while.

Mariah was anything but okay because she had no idea how she was supposed to tell Windham he’d be a father within the next 9 months. Maybe less, depending how far along she was. Not able to hold back tremors, Mariah stepped away from Windham and sat back on the bed, her legs suddenly feeling numb. Her whole body did in actuality. He was the sweetest, caring man she’d ever been with, but Mariah knew her heart would never be fully his. A piece of it, yes, because she had grown to feel love for Windham. But the majority of it was still in Jon’s and Mariah had no idea how to get it back.

“I’m okay now that you’re here.” Taking his hand, Mariah pulled Windham down to sit on the bed with her and didn’t let go, lowering her green eyes to the floor. She couldn’t wait and had to tell him now before things got worse. “There’s something I need to tell you.”

Windham could only sit there and listen to everything Mariah said, blue eyes growing wide with each word that came out of her mouth. By the time she finished, Mariah was in hysterics, sobbing and Windham couldn’t reach out to comfort her. He couldn’t move, period, trying to wrap his mind around the fact Mariah was pregnant. Standing from the bed, Windham began pacing back and forth, tearing a hand through his long dark hair yanking on his beard.

“I thought you were on birth control.”

“That’s why it only had a 99% chance of working, Windham.” She countered softly, watching him and could feel her stomach clench violently, a wave of nausea crashing over her. “I’m so sorry this happened, but…we can’t change it. We have to face facts we’re going to be parents.” Mariah caressed her stomach gently and felt her eyes nearly shoot out of their sockets at Windham’s next choice of words.

“What about an abortion? I can’t have a kid right now, Mariah. I can’t. It’s not possible, not with everything going on in my career.”

“Are you – you’re serious, aren’t you?” It felt as if the oxygen suddenly left Mariah’s body and she could barely breathe, staring back at Windham in astonishment. “Y-You want to kill an unborn child because of your CAREER?!” The hormones were heightened and it took every ounce of resolve for Mariah not to claw his eyes out with her nails. “ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?”

“Not just my career, Mariah. I’m thinking of yours too…”

Windham closed his eyes briefly, knowing his reaction to the news of her pregnancy upset Mariah and he didn’t blame her. He was a dick. The truth was he DID want to keep the baby and be a father, but with all the pressure Vince had put on him recently ever since being called up to the main roster, the timing was awful. Having a hormonal girlfriend following him around everywhere didn’t sound appeasing either. There was no way Windham could deal with that and Vince’s ideas to make his character and group better. Didn’t she understand he had a lot on his plate right now?

“I’m sorry, Mariah.” He whispered, walking up behind her since she’d turned her back to him, hearing her soft sobs. “I really am, doll face. I didn’t mean what I said about getting rid of the baby.” Didn’t he just convince himself having a kid was out of the question? “We’ll work something out.”

It took a few minutes to find her voice again without it cracking, but Mariah suddenly turned around to look into Windham’s eyes, acidic eyes full of solemnity. “If you don’t want this baby than you don’t want me. I mean it, Windham. You better decide what you want in life before you lose me forever. I’m gonna go see if there’s another room available because I need time alone and I know you do too.” This wasn’t an easy decision by any means and Mariah wanted to make Windham feel what it was like to not have her around for a little while.

All Windham could do was watch her leave the hotel room they shared together, not having the heart to stop her.

~!~

This was the last person she expected to be at her hotel room door.

“What are you doing here?”

After crying for a few hours, Mariah finally came to the realization that Windham didn’t want the baby. Hell, she wasn’t sure she wanted it either, but abortion sounded so…cruel and unforgiving. She wasn’t religious by any means, but what if this was meant to be? What if she was meant to be a mother now? Mariah had just laid down to take a nap before the show that night when a knock sounded at her hotel room door, opening it to stare back into the distinctive pale blues of Jonathan Good.

Jon rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, not sure why he came to check on Mariah because of their past history. “I heard what happened.” He rasped out softly, averting his eyes to the floor and shoved his hands in the front pockets of his blue jeans with holes ripped in the knees. They were his favorite. “Wanted to make sure you were okay.”

“I’m fine.” She replied in a clipped tone and folded her arms in front of her chest with narrowed eyes. “I’ll be better when we’re done with this visit. By the way, how’s Heidi doing?” Mariah’s voice filled with sarcasm at that question and hoped Jon was smart enough not to answer it since it was rhetorical.

Rolling his eyes, Jon hadn’t expected the welcome wagon from her and opened his mouth to respond, but his eyes zeroed in on her hand on her stomach. “What’s going on, Mariah?” He demanded, finally looking up at her with contracted eyes of his own. “Sick?”

“Nothing, just leave me alone and stay away from me.” Mariah snapped, her hormones exploding because of the pregnancy and slammed the door in his face, flipping the deadbolt on it.

~!~

“Hey Mariah, got a second to talk?”

Mariah smiled up at Natalie Nelson –She was WWE’s Jessica Rabbit Diva known as Eva Marie with fiery red hair and beautiful light brown eyes that had gold specks in them- and set her pen down, having gone over the schedule for Windham’s upcoming shows overseas in a couple weeks. The WWE went there at least 3 times a year to satisfy the fans that weren’t in the United States. Natalie and Mariah were good friends, though not as good as her and Alyson Nylah.

“Sure, what’s up, Miss Fire?” She leaned back against her seat and could see the nervousness in Natalie’s eyes.

“Well…I think – I mean I know – I have a date tonight.” Natalie stumbled over her words in a rush, her whole face turning crimson in seconds.

“Oh really?” Natalie hadn’t been on the roster long, so this was an intriguing turn of events. “Who is the lucky bachelor?”

“I-It’s um – its Jonathan Good…”

Mariah felt her heart plummet to the depths of her stomach, but she hid her pain well. “So what’s the problem?” She put on a fake smile for her friend, not able to hate Natalie simply because Jon wanted to take her out.

“Well – I mean – I don’t know. Maybe I shouldn’t take this chance with a coworker so soon, Mariah.” Natalie frowned, twisting the latest script in her hands. “Jon is really nice and, not to mention, downright gorgeous, but I don’t know if it’s the right thing to do.”

Honestly, Mariah didn’t blame Natalie for having these kind of doubts, but she also knew what kind of man Jon was. Deep down, he was a good and kind person with a heart of gold. Even though things never worked out between them. Hopefully, Jon didn’t hurt Natalie the same way he’d hurt her. There was no way she could warn her friend about that without spilling the truth regarding her and Jon’s past in the Indies.

“Fire, I’ve been friends with Jon for a while and all he wants to do is show you a good time. Don’t do anything you’re uncomfortable with. He won’t force himself on you, he’s actually very shy with women.” Believe it or not, Mariah had to make the first move with Jon the night they slept together, but once she did he took over with sheer dominance and masculinity.

Natalie smiled brightly. “I’m gonna take a chance with him. Thanks for talking to me about it, Mariah.”

They embraced and Natalie took off out the door to go give Jon her answer about the date that night. Burying her face in her hands, Mariah couldn’t believe she just convinced Natalie to go out with Jon, the former love of her life! What the hell was she thinking?

~!~

“I want the baby, Mariah.” Windham had cornered her in the ladies restroom of the arena and cupped her face in his strong hands, pressing their foreheads together. “I love you, doll face. I’m so sorry for the way I treated you.”

Mariah couldn’t help getting lost in his beautiful electric blues and softly kissed him, pulling back when she needed air to breathe. “Are you sure?” They’d only been apart a few hours. “No second thoughts?”

“No.” Windham ran a finger down her cheek and pulled her into a warm embrace. “I want to have this baby with you more than anything.” He nuzzled her neck with his mouth and slid his hand down to rub her protruding stomach, a smile flittering across his lips. “You should leave early tonight and go rest at the hotel.”

“I can’t.” Mariah shook her head, murmuring and tried stifling a tired yawn, but it wasn’t happening. “Hopefully it’s not a late night.”

“Just don’t overwork yourself.” Windham advised, pulling back enough to stare down in her tired eyes and kissed her nose. “Think of the baby and your wellbeing. You’re already tired out.”

Nodding, Mariah extricated herself from his arms with a small smile. “I’ll be fine, I promise. Now get out of here and go get ready for your segment tonight. I’ll see you afterwards.” They shared another kiss and Windham took off, leaving Mariah alone with newfound hope for their relationship.

~!~

Windham was on his way to Mariah’s office, after his match, when he was tackled into a nearby empty dressing room. Lips found his chest and Windham leaned back against the touch, eyes closing at the sensations coursing through his body. He growled when she looked up at him through passion filled eyes and immediately took control, slamming her back against the wall crushing his mouth to hers. Going to work on her neck, he removed the nuisance clothing from her body, which wasn’t much and felt his dick harden at the sight of her bare breasts, nipples already erect. Throbbing, begging for some kind of release, Windham reached beneath the black short skirt she wore and ripped her panties clean off, whipping her around to push her face first into the wall.

“Yeah, now bend over and show me that delicious pussy.”

She obeyed, whimpering in sheer anticipation and gasped as soon as Windham filled her body with his engorged cock, purring in approval. “Oh Windham, that feels so fucking good, baby…” She moaned, loving how he began slamming in and out of her as hard, fast and deep as he could, not waiting for her to fully adjust to him.

“So do you, precious…”

Thrusting like a madman, Windham felt guilty deep down for cheating on Mariah, but he couldn’t help it. This woman drove him absolutely insane with desire and he had to have her every time they saw each other. There was something about her, a magnetic attraction he didn’t have with Mariah. Whenever Mariah fell asleep, Windham snuck out of their hotel room to go see his secret lover for a quick romp and would be back in bed with Mariah before she woke up. It didn’t take long for both of them to reach their climaxes and Windham sink his teeth in her shoulder blade to muffle his bellow, filling her body with his hot seed. She collapsed back against him, breathing heavily and turned her head to brush their lips together briefly, both craving more of each other.

“I gotta go.”

Eyes watched Windham walk down the hall with an extra kick in his step and the individual felt sick to his stomach. Mariah had put her faith, trust and love into the wrong man. A few minutes later, the woman Windham had been screwing left the same dressing room, trying to straighten herself out the best she could.

It was Natalie Nelson.

~!~

How could Natalie betray her friend this way?

It didn’t make sense. Jon had no idea what to do while roaming the halls of the arena they were in for the Smackdown! taping that night. It’d been a month since Jon caught Windham and Natalie in the act, keeping his anger bottled up as much as she could. When Natalie came to him saying she accepted his offer to go on the date he asked her out on, Jon immediately took it off the table and told her to find someone else. He wasn’t interested anymore. Jon stopped just outside Mariah’s office door and raised his hand up to knock, pulling back at the sounds of faint moaning coming from inside. Apparently, Windham was getting an extra piece of ass before going to see Natalie again like he had for the past month. He had to talk to Natalie about this and find out what was really going on, having a sinking feeling there was more to the story. Walking away from Mariah’s door, Jon headed to catering and spotted Natalie in the far back corner sipping a cup of coffee alone, wondering why she wasn’t hanging with the other Divas.

Something wasn’t right.

“This seat taken?” He didn’t wait for a response and sat down beside Natalie, folding his hands on top of the table. “I need to talk to you about something.”

“What?” Natalie raised a brow, looking up at Jon.

He instantly saw the faint bruise on her right cheek and frowned, knowing she’d tried covering it up with foundation. “Come on, Natalie, I know you and Windham have been screwing around with each other for god knows how long.” Jon didn’t bother beating around the bush and folded his arms in front of his chest at her wide teary eyes.

“Oh god…” Natalie blinked, tears sliding down her cheeks and averted her eyes from him. “That’s why you cancelled our date, isn’t it?” Her voice was low and quiet, not wanting to draw attention to their table.

“Yes. Now, take a guess at what I’m gonna ask you next.”

Shaking her head, Natalie went to stand up from the table and Jon stopped her, wrapping his large hand around her upper arm forcing her to sit back down. “Please let me go, Jon.” She pleaded, panic filling her eyes. “He’ll be so upset with me if I don’t meet up with him!”

“Not until we finish talking.”

This wasn’t the place to do it, so Jon dragged Natalie out of catering back to the Shield dressing room, knowing Joe and Colby were at the gym still. He always got to the arena before them for some reason. Jon pointed to a metal folding chair and directed her to sit down with his eyes, locking the door so she couldn’t try escaping.

“I wanna know why you’ve been fucking around with Wyatt when he’s supposed to be with Mariah.”

Shame coursed through Natalie. “You wouldn’t understand.” She muttered, trying to stop crying and failed miserably.

“Try me.” Jon challenged, setting up another chair to sit in front of her backwards, resting his arms against the back of it staring at her hardening. “Natalie, if that asshole has done something to you, I need to know before it happens to Mariah.”

Natalie noticed the worry in Jon’s eyes and it didn’t take long to figure out why he’d brought her in here. “You’re in love with her.”

“Yeah I am, but this isn’t about me and her right now. This is about you and what Wyatt has done. What has he done to you to make you keep running back to him for sex?” Jon reached a hand out when Natalie lowered her head again and squeezed it in a purely platonic way. “Talk to me. Has he hit you?” He already knew the answer to that question.

Nodding, Natalie sniffled and completely broke down in a fit of sobs, covering her face with her hands. “Many times.”

“Why?”

Taking a few minutes to calm down, Natalie finally decided she had to come clean about everything happening with Windham. “When I first came to the main roster from developmental, Windham befriended me and we started hanging out, seeing each other in secret. I had no idea and didn’t ask at first, but after 4 months of dating, I couldn’t handle it anymore. He convinced me everything was fine and he didn’t want rumors spread about us, begging me to give him more time to get used to us being together. Around the same time, I started talking to Mariah because of a shoot for WWE magazine and she was handling my schedule for the company temporarily. Windham found out, went ballistic and demanded me not to talk to Mariah anymore. When I asked why, he admitted she was his girlfriend. My heart broke instantly and I tried to stop seeing him, but he wouldn’t leave me alone. He…raped me a few times and forced me to tackle him countless times in dressing rooms so he could fuck me. When I refused at first, he started hitting me, calling me names and every time became gradually worse. I tried telling him I wouldn’t live by his rules, tried walking away, but he was always there. It’s gotten to the point now where I can’t even go out for one night on the town with the Divas without telling him where I’m going and what I’m doing. I’m sick of it, Jon. What else can I do though? He said he’d kill me and Mariah if I didn’t go along with whatever he wanted from me.”

By now, Natalie was on her knees on the floor crying and sobbing her heart out to Mark violently, not believing she just revealed the truth about her and Windham. Who he really was. Jon was livid while listening to Natalie’s story and knew he had to get her and Mariah away from Windham if it was the last thing he did. Standing, Jon lifted Natalie from the floor in his arms and felt her head lull against his shoulder, every part of her body trembling from head to toe. This woman was scared to death.

“He won’t touch you or Mariah, no matter what I have to do. I promise. In the meantime, you stay in here while I go get Mariah. She needs to hear the truth.”

All Natalie could do was nod. “I need to lay down for a little while. I’m exhausted.”

“Do you have a part in the show tonight?”

“No.”

Jon set her down gently on the floor since they didn’t have a couch and covered her up with his sweatshirt, giving her his bag to rest her head on. It wasn’t comfortable, but the best he could do until they got back to the hotel that night. Leaving the dressing room, Jon neglected to lock the door behind him and didn’t notice the dangerous electric blues watching him rush down the hallway. That intense gaze snapped to the Shield’s dressing room door and Windham wasted no time pushing it open, seeing his backstabbing lover laying on the floor in the corner with her eyes closed.

She had quite the beating coming to her for defying his wishes.

“Daddy’s home, little girl, and you’ve obviously been naughty while I’ve been gone. So turn over and get what’s coming to you!”

A sickening crack echoed off the walls as Windham’s black leather belt from his pants connected with Natalie’s already frigid bruised body.

~!~

“We need to talk.”

“What do you want, Ambrose?” Mariah wasn’t in the mood for this, rubbing her throbbing temples with her fingers. “Can’t you see I’m busy?”

Jon ignored her attitude and closed the distance between them, pulling her up by her upper arms to stare deep in her eyes. “We have to stop hiding our past from everyone, including our feelings for each other.”

“Have you completely lost your mind?!” Mariah’s green eyes shot open, not believing what she was hearing. “I’ll lose everything if we do that!”

“Sit down and I’ll tell you why we need to reveal the truth.”

Not really seeing a point in doing this, Mariah reluctantly sat back down in her chair and pursed her lips tightly together. “You have 5 minutes, Jon. Starting now.”

~!~

She merely sat there, confusion and anger invading her eyes while staring at Jon, trying to decipher if he was telling her the truth or not. “Why should I believe a word you say?”

“Because it’s the truth. I’ve lied to a lot of people, but never you, Mariah! You fucking know that! I care about you. Hell, I LOVE you!” Jon was desperate for her to believe what Windham was doing and the amount of danger she was in, grabbing both of her hands in his. “Why would I make this up?”

Mariah pulled her hands away, tears filling her eyes. “Because you want me back and you’ll do anything and say anything to get your way!” Why couldn’t she open her eyes to the truth staring her in the face?

“Goddamn it, Mariah, I do want you back, alright?! I do, but I’m not gonna lie about one of your friends being abused by your current boyfriend to do it! She’s in trouble and so are you!” Jon shouted, emotions filling him up while trying to get her to understand what monster she currently had in her bed.

This was a sticky situation and Mariah had no idea what to do about it. Did she believe Jon? She didn’t know. “I-I’ll have to talk to Windham about this…”

Jon scoffed, shaking his head in pure disappointment. “You honestly think he’s gonna come clean with you? Think again, sweetheart! That man has been manipulating you from the start!”

“What I do with my personal life is NONE of your business!” Mariah shot back, standing up and pointed to the door. “Now get out!”

“Mariah, please listen to me…”

“SOMEBODY HELP ME!!”

Both Jon and Mariah rushed out of the door heading down the hallway and stopped at the Shield’s dressing room. Alyson had tears streaming down her face and her body shook like a leaf, aqua eyes filling with relief at the sight of Jon and Mariah. Jon went into the room to survey the damage while Alyson made a call to the trainer Michael to get to the Shield dressing room immediately. Mariah suddenly realized what was happening and held Alyson close, trying to calm her down while maintaining her own composure for the sake of her and the baby.

~!~

“We’re here today to honor a beautiful intelligent woman named Natalie Nelson, who was taken from us too soon. I first met Natalie when she came up from developmental to the main roster in WWE and we became fast friends. She befriended me in so many ways and I will miss her deeply. I guess God needed another angel for whatever reason, so I hope wherever Natalie is, she’s resting peacefully. Thank you for all the wonderful memories, Fire, and goodbye.”

Stepping down from the podium, a trembling Mariah returned to her seat next to Jon and felt his arm wrap around her shoulders, leaning against him for support. She was grateful for his warmth since her whole body felt chilled to the bone. Natalie’s death brought quite a shock around the wrestling world and millions of loyal fans were gathered at her gravesite that fateful day. All Mariah could do was cry while Jon held her, soothing her with his words and encouragement. Even he let a few tears fall, the guilt tearing him apart because he’d broken his promise to protect Natalie. After the funeral was over and Natalie’s body was lowered 6 feet into the ground, Vince McMahon had a reception in her honor with food and soft music.

Windham was found guilty due to a DNA test performed from his belt covered with her blood. It didn’t take long to lock him up and throw away the key, in prison for life without any bail for the murder of Natalie Nelson. Shortly after that, Jon had proposed to Mariah and moved her to Las Vegas, Nevada, wanting her with him for the rest of his life so he could protect her fully. She tried resisting him at first, but they both realized they had missed each other more than anything in the world. They were married 4 months into Mariah’s pregnancy in a beautiful outdoor park. It was in late October, still warm for Vegas and Mariah wore a simple slim white dress with her little pouch hanging out, making Jon love her more if it was possible. Only Alyson, Joe, Colby and Leighla were there to see witness the happy ceremony. Jon couldn’t get married without his brothers in attendance.

9 months later, a beautiful healthy baby girl was brought into the world and her name was Natalie Marie Good. Tears shined in Mariah’s eyes along with Jon’s, both of them amazed at the beautiful creation they brought into the world together. Jon kissed her tenderly and stroked her face with his hand, both enjoying the peaceful loving moment together with their new daughter. After Natalie’s untimely death, Mariah made the decision to name the baby after her friend if it ended up being a girl. Christopher, if it was a boy. Natalie had beautiful jade eyes that matched her mother’s to perfection and a head full of dark hair. Even though the baby girl wasn’t biologically Jon’s, he still loved her like his own and had been there every step of the way during the pregnancy.

“She’s so beautiful, Jon.” Mariah whispered, holding the baby girl close to her and sent a silent ‘thank you’ above knowing Natalie was looking down on them right now.

The doctors came in to take Natalie away for some testing, normal procedure after the birth and Mariah was too exhausted to argue. She fell asleep almost instantly and Jon lowered the bed to make her more comfortable, brushing his mouth against hers. All he could do was watch over her and wait for their baby girl to be returned to them, putting Jon on edge a little.

“Did you miss me when I was gone?” Jon asked later that night while rocking Natalie to sleep so his wife could rest.

“More than anything in the world, Jon. Did you miss me?”

He merely winked at her with a smile and returned his attention to Natalie, watching her beautiful eyes open to stare up at him cooing. “Miss us, baby girl. Always.” He whispered, pressing his forehead to hers and kissed her cheek, not believing how lucky he was to have a family of his own after everything he’d gone through in life.

Everything had finally fallen into place and nothing would change it, not even after death.

The End.