Alexa had wondered how long it would be before Lucy, Seth and Clementine had the chance to come and stay with her and Dean. Having the intention to make something happen was one thing. But when you worked for WWE, having the time to do things was not so easy. For that reason, she had been pleasantly surprised that they had only had to wait a few weeks after Clem had officially been adopted.

Now it was the second day of the short visit, and Alexa was having a great time hosting. She knew that her guests were all enjoying themselves, too. Seth certainly was; he and Dean were in the garage, looking at Dean's new project. He had always wanted to try his hand at restoring a classic car, and had recently bought a 1972 Dodge Challenger that was in a real mess for the purpose.

"I think we've lost the guys," Lucy said dryly. "It's been an hour since they went in there."

She and Alexa were sitting on the couch in the living room, chatting away over the morning's second cup of strong coffee. Clementine was sitting on the floor nearby, watching one of her favourite TV shows. The French doors at the end of the room were wide open, letting in a nice breeze.

"Yeah, I'm beginning to regret agreeing to the car idea," Alexa joked. "Dean practically lives in his man cave whenever we're here."

"Hmmm," Lucy said thoughtfully. "Do you think they'd notice if we cleared off to the airport? Us three girls could have our own mini vacation."

Alexa nodded, feigning seriousness. "You know, that's not a bad idea."

"What do you say, Clem?" Lucy asked. "Shall we leave Seth and Dean and go on a girl's vacation?"

Clem turned around to look at them. Realising it was a joke, she played along. "Okay, let's go."

"Yes, Clem!" Alexa said as Lucy laughed.

The child quickly returned her attention to the TV. When she was sure they were not being listened to, Lucy said, "I have to admit I'm a little surprised Renee agreed to sit down with you the other day, Lexi."

"What? You encouraged me to ask her to."

"I know I did. But that doesn't mean I expected her to say yes. I'm glad, of course, just surprised."

"I think she was as sick of the drama as I was, to be honest with you. Like you said the other week, it's not in either of our natures to bitch and snipe at each other all the time."

"What did you say when you sat down with her? You never talked me through the whole conversation."

"I thanked her for agreeing to talk to me, first of all," Alexa said. "She just shrugged, so it wasn't the best start. That's why I just got straight down to business and said that I wanted to apologise, both for what happened with Dean while they were still together, and for some of the things that had been said since."

"And what did she say?" Lucy enquired.

"She said that cheating wasn't something she could forgive, apology or no apology. I said I understood that, and I accepted that forgiveness might be a step too far."

"It certainly would be for me," Lucy opined.

Alexa nodded. "I think it would for most people. I'm not proud of what Dean and I did; I've said that many times. I regret how we got together. But I certainly don't regret that we did get together. Anyway, Renee asked me why I had asked to talk with her if I didn't expect forgiveness. I said what I wanted was to call a truce, if that didn't sound too childish."

"How did she take that?"

"For a moment, I thought she was going to tell me where I could stick my truce. But then she seemed to think twice about it, and her expression softened up a bit. She said, 'You know what? Fine. If you want to call a truce, you got it. We've got to work together, Hunter was quite clear on that, so we might as well be civil about it.' I was happy to hear that, so I thanked her, and we left it at that."

"It's good news," Lucy said with a small smile. "I was afraid at one point that I was going to have to bang your heads together." With that, she got off the couch, adding, "Bathroom visit."

As her friend left the room, Alexa picked up her phone, which was on silent mode. She had two texts to reply to. While she was writing, Clem got up and wandered out through the French doors to the pool area. Something about her body language troubled Alexa, so she got up to follow.

When she walked out of the house, Alexa saw that Clementine had sat down at the edge of the pool, dipping her bare feet into the water. She was crying quietly. Hurrying over there, Alexa said, "Clem? What's the matter, sweetheart?"

Clementine looked away from her, trying to hide her tears. "Nothing," she said sorrowfully.

It was the worst attempt at a lie Alexa had heard for a while. She sat down next to the young girl and gently said, "You're crying, Clem. What's happened?"

Trying to be strong, Clem said, "Somebody on my show just said something that reminded me of my mom." Getting the words out made her burst properly into tears – the tears of a heart-broken child.

Alexa didn't know what to say. No words could possibly help. She just wrapped her arms around Clementine and allowed her to cry, hoping that the release of emotion would at least help a little. Trying to fight her own tears was a tough job. How could anyone not feel for Clem after what she had been through? The kid had no idea how strong she was to be coping as well as she was.

A couple of minutes later, Clem had cried herself out. "I'm sorry," she mumbled into Alexa's chest.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, Clem. You're such an amazing, strong, brave girl. You've been through something no child should go through. I wish I was a brave as you; that's the truth."

Clementine didn't say or do anything noticeable, but Alexa could just somehow tell that the words meant a lot to her.

"I feel bad for crying," Clem said eventually. "When I cry and Seth or Lucy see me, I think I'm making them feel like I don't appreciate them."

Alexa squeezed her tightly for a second. "They'd never thing that, sweetie. They love you, and they know you love them. Getting upset about your parents doesn't change that at all."

Clementine pulled away a little bit so that she could look up at Alexa. "I don't know how to show them I appreciate them."

The answer came to Alexa immediately. "You showed them with the wristbands you bought them. That was such a lovely thing to do, and it meant so much to them both. But there are other things you can do to show them you love them. For example, just go sit on the couch with Lucy and cuddle up to her. She would like that."

"Okay," Clem agreed. Then another thought came to her. "I didn't tell them about talking to Mr Helmsley yet, either."

"Really? Then we should go do that now," Alexa said excitedly, glad to have something else for them to focus on.

"Okay," Clem said again. In the way that children somehow could, she had brightened up quickly.

They headed back inside, finding the living room empty. Lucy was obviously still in the bathroom. Alexa helped Clem to dry her eyes so that no one would know she had been crying, then she announced she was going to fetch Dean and Seth from the garage.

"Dean? Seth?" she asked as she walked into the garage, finding the two men under the Dodge's hood, tinkering with the engine.

"Won't be long, darlin'," Dean said.

"You've already been an hour," Alexa pointed out with good humour. "Seth, you need to come speak to Clem. She's got something to tell you. Dean, you can come too."

Seth didn't need to be told twice. "Is everything okay?

"Yeah. Just come," Alexa said as she turned to head back to the living room.

Dean said, "Just give us a minute to wash our hands."

When they had washed up, Dean and Seth joined the others in the living room. Alexa had given up her seat on the couch to Clem, who was cuddling up with Lucy. But when she saw the men come in, she got up. "I have something to tell you," she announced.

Not for the first time, Lucy smiled at how comfortably she took on the role of centre of attention. She would be a good promo performer if ever she decided to become a wrestler, Lucy thought. Little did she know how relevant that thought would be to what she was about to hear.

"Okay, we're listening," Seth said keenly as he sat down next to his fiancée and put an arm around her shoulders.

Looking on with a slightly bemused smile, Dean sat on the arm of the chair Alexa was sitting in. All eyes were on Clementine. Even Alexa was surprised by the first thing she heard.

Clementine looked at Seth and Lucy, feeling her eyes tearing up again. "The first thing I want to say is I love you guys. I know I cry a lot, but you do make me happy. I love you and I like living with you."

"Aww, Clem," Lucy said. She wanted nothing more than to pick her up and hug her, but she fought off the instinct, since she knew Clem had more to say.

"We love you, too, sweet pea," Seth said, borrowing his wife's nickname for their daughter. "And we know and understand why you cry. We'd never hold that against you, ever. You know that, right?"

"Yes," Clem said seriously. She nervously fiddled with her baseball cap as she thought about the next thing she had to bring up.

"What is it, Clem?" Lucy asked, sneaking a confused glance at Seth. Dean did a similar thing to Alexa, who gave nothing away.

"I, uh, spoke to Mr Helmsley a couple of weeks ago. We were in his office and you were talking to Mrs Helmsley," she rambled.

"What did Mr Helmsley say?" Seth encouraged, wondering where this was going.

"I told him I want to work for him one day. I want to be a wrestler like you guys," Clem said sincerely.

Neither of her parents doubted her seriousness. They looked at each other, and Seth saw that Lucy was happy to encourage her, as was he. "It's definitely possible," he said. "But it's a lot of hard work. You can't just tell Mr Helmsley you want to be a wrestler and hope it will happen from there."

"I know that," Clem said, apparently pained by the implication that she didn't. "Mr Helmsley told me I can only think about getting a job at WWE if I graduate school and if I look after my body. That's why I've been trying my hardest in school and with my exercises."

Lucy had noticed the increased intensity in the exercises that she helped Clem with, and was pleased to hear about the improved effort in school. They had a determined and strong-willed girl, there could be no doubting that. She had never been prouder than she was in that moment. Of course, there was a hell of a long way to go, that was putting it mildly, but they would do their best to support Clem on whatever path she chose, so long as it was sensible. Wanting to be a wrestler definitely fitted that criteria.

"Babe?' Seth asked her, seeking confirmation of her thoughts.

"I'm really proud of you for talking to Mr Helmsley, and for listening to his advice," Lucy told Clem. "You do need to do the things he said, then you will have to put a hell of a lot of work into training, if you get offered a job. But Seth and I will help you as best we can. We promise."

Alexa was squeezing Dean's hand tightly as they watched Clem walk forward and hug each of her parents in turn. The whole exchange had been truly heart-warming. Then an idea came to her. What better way to commit the moment to memory than with a picture?

"Guys, let's all get a picture together," she suggested, getting up from the chair and unlocking her phone.

"Yes!" Clem said excitedly.

Seth and Lucy made room for Clem and Alexa to cram onto the couch.

"Come on, Dean, you've got to be in it as well," Alexa said as she got ready to take the shot. She was pleasantly surprised when he got up and came over without griping about it.

Dean rested an arm on the arm of the couch and leaned in so that he was in the shot. He had to at least save face by barely raising a smile, while everyone else grinned like idiots.

Alexa took the shoot, and Lucy immediately punched Dean on the shoulder. "Such a sourpuss," she accused with a giggle.

Dean had to laugh at that as he went back over to the chair and sat down.

"Aww, it's lovely," Alexa said as she got off the couch, showing her phone's screen to Lucy, Seth and Clementine. She knew she would never share the image publically as Lucy and Seth were being secretive when it came to Clem, but she knew what caption she would have given the image if it had been shared.

Happy times, looking forward to the future.

END

A/N There have it, guys. I hope you all enjoyed reading this story as much as I enjoyed writing it. And I hope you'll come back for Clementine's story, which is coming soon.

Thank you all again for your support throughout this journey, and merry Christmas to those who will be celebrating.