February 14th, 2005

"I can't do it anymore!" Sweat was dripping down Nikki's body so quickly that not even the small towel her twin sister, Brie was using to dab her face with could control. "Please," she begged, "make it stop." Her voice was getting weaker and her body was exhausted.

"Nicole, you can do this. I believe in you," Brie spoke quietly so she wouldn't make Nikki's head ache. She was probably more nervous than her sister in that moment since she could barely feel anything besides pain.

The doctor peered over the hospital gown up into Nikki's tired eyes. "Just a few more pushes and your baby will be here."

Nikki waited until the doctor finished counting down from three before curling her head into her chest and pushing as hard as she physically could. She was regretting her decision to go naturally without an epidural with every contraction, but she understood how it was too late to change her mind.

"Oh, God it hurts!" Nikki was biting down on her lip to keep from screaming, but that was barely working. "Just cut him out, please!" Less than ten minutes later, Nikki felt her tightest, most painful contraction yet and she pushed her final push.

"Meet your baby boy," her doctor proudly announced as he held up the newborn.

Although the birthing staff hadn't cleaned him up just yet, Nikki demanded she get to hold the child. The minute he landed in her arms Nikki couldn't help but burst into the happiest tears she'd cried in her life. She was only twenty-one years old and yet she'd met the love of her life: her son.

"Oh, Nikki he's gorgeous," Brie cooed. She was in complete awe of her nephew; his eyes, his hair, his tiny fingers and toes...he was so small it was a miracle he could be considered a human being.

One of the nurses took the child to get cleaned and swaddled, but as soon as he was put back into his mother's arms Nikki refused to release him. She was so in love.

"What's his name?"

Nikki, still looking down at the precious face of her baby boy, thought carefully before answering the nurse. "Leonardo," she whispered. "His name is Leonardo. Leo for short."

July 2015

"Leonardo Bella, get over here and eat the rest of your dinner, now!"

Nikki placed a fork down next to the full plate on her dining room table and pulled a chair out. She was only home for the weekend and the fact that she had a schedule only made her antsier for every little detail of her day. She needed everything to be perfect for herself and her little boy.

"I told you that I don't like to be called that," the ten-year-old boy complained as he made his way down the stairs and into the dining room. Sitting himself down, he placed a napkin in his lap before dishing out on his plate of spaghetti.

The Latina smiled as she watched her son devour her home-cooked meal. She couldn't help but admire her work: the olive tone to his skin and the light curls in his hair. Besides the shade of his curly locks, the baby blues and the adorable dimples he knew how to rock she could always tell he was her work of art. She created him, not only biologically but into the man he was already shaping up to be.

"That's your name," she retorted. "You can't tell your mother not to call you by your name."

"But all of my friends call me Leo."

Her smile didn't completely disappear, but it did fade. "Well, I called you Leonardo first. Therefore I win by default." Just before he could reply, Nikki's phone began to ring in the other room so she excused herself and went to check it.

Nikki picked her phone up and checked the screen, only to have her friendly smile fade completely away. She took a quick peek into the dining room to find Leonardo continuing his diner, so the woman sneaked across the house into her office where she answered the awaiting call. "What do you want now?"

"I need to talk to you," a raspy voice spoke, "I need to talk to you right now."

"Well, whatever it is it's going to have to wait. I'm in the middle of something."

"It's important."

"Everything is important to you," Nikki sighed, "everything except me."

John rolled over in his bed and rubbed his hung-over eyes. He drank almost two entire bottles of whiskey the night before after having already downed a glass of Nikki's expensive wine that she'd left at his house. "Please, baby. You can just walk out on us."

"You...you're..." Nikki couldn't find the words to say, she was so furious with him. "I can't talk to you right now."

"Baby-"

"Stop calling me," she demanded before hanging up and putting her phone down on her desk. The woman covered her eyes and thought about happier thoughts, ones that didn't involve yelling and screaming and throwing furniture across the room: ones that didn't carry around dead weight.

Much, much happier thoughts.

"You're back!" A cheerful Paige exclaimed before tossing herself onto Nikki, wrapping her body around the woman. "How was your weekend?"

Laughing, Nikki assisted the raven-haired beauty down and took a step back. "You need to stop jumping on people, girl. My weekend was fine. I got a lot done."

"I heard about you and John," she muttered.

"What about me and John?"

Paige raised her eyebrows and crossed her arms. "How you two broke up. It was all over social media." She waited, but Nikki didn't respond. "You didn't know it had leaked, did you?"

"How much is out there?" Nikki's nerves were leaping all over the place with the image of her young son being bullied at school because the great John Cena didn't want anything to do with him or his mother anymore. "How did anyone even find out?"

"Apparently John got drunk and accidentally phoned a few people in the sobs. He was out of his mind and ended up telling them the whole thing."

"But, how much got leaked?"

Paige shrugged. She didn't know how much actually occurred, but she did know what was being said. "There was an article about how there was a lot of screaming and how there was no proof but a representative of John could confirm that you two were through."

"What are you two talking about?" Eva Marie asked, making sure to adjust her fiery red hair in the process. "Oh, and Nikki I heard about you and John. I'm really sorry that you two couldn't work things out."

Wanting to slap her across the face, Nikki struggled to keep herself from glaring. Who did she think she was, coming around and pretending to care when everyone knew she just wanted to sleep her way to the top despite the fact that she was 'happily' married.

Biting the inside of her cheek, Nikki nodded. "It's great to see you, Eva. How's your husband doing?"

"He's fine," she said simply. She knew what everyone thought about her, and while she couldn't disagree with their assumptions more she never argued with anyone. "So, what went down with John? Are you two going to get back together ever?"

"If it's all the same with you, I don't really want to talk about it."

Surprisingly, they all were able to drop and change the subject without anyone bringing John up again. It lifted Nikki's spirits enough that she was able to think of things other than her ex-boyfriend and how everything ended, but that comfort wouldn't last. A tap on her shoulder was enough to send shivers down her spine without knowing who was behind her.

Nikki turned around and rather than feeling reassured, her nerves tensed.

"Stephanie," she greeted with a nervous sigh.

"You look like you've seen a ghost." Stephanie chuckled at her joke and placed her hand on the back of Nikki's shoulder. "Do you mind stepping into my office for a moment? I promise it won't be too unbearable."

She didn't really want to, but she couldn't deny the boss of her wishes, even if her gleaming smile was less than jovial. Nikki walked with Stephanie until they reached a back room that the people in charge always used for offices when they were away from Headquarters. The room was disturbingly empty and cold, causing small bumps to raise on the woman's skin.

Stephanie motioned for Nikki to sit down on the couch next to the wall, and she did. "May I ask what this is about?"

"Well, I hope that this isn't too personal of a question, but I wanted to make sure that everything was alright. I know you've probably heard a lot of people asking you about what happened with John and all, but because the two of you still work here I have to make it one of my priorities to make sure that you two are on good enough terms to work under the same roof."

It was a mouthful, but Nikki understood each and every word. "I'm - we're - fine. Everything is fine."

"That's wonderful." Stephanie smiled even brighter and cleared her throat before walking over and sitting next to her. "However, that isn't all I need to speak with you about."

Nikki nodded, a lump forming in her throat. "Alright," she spoke softly.

"Last season on Total Divas, you admitted to marrying when you were younger. And, I know that nobody besides your family and your bosses know about your son. What's his name again? I haven't seen him since I was last pregnant, it seems like."

The lump tripled in size. "Leonardo. But, he likes to go by Leo."

"That's a very classic name," Stephanie said. "My daughters have fairly traditional names so it's nice to hear other mothers who felt the same when naming their newborn."

"I'm sorry," Nikki blurted out, "I don't quite know what you're getting at with this."

The older woman nodded and locked her hands together very authoritatively. "I hope that I won't make you uncomfortable by asking this, but the producers of the show were hoping that you would be able to work Leonardo into the show this upcoming season."

The lump was on the brink of exploding. She could barely breathe, her lungs were collapsing. "No," she said defensively.

"No?" Stephanie chuckled in surprise. "Why not?"

"I've worked hard to keep him out of the spotlight I'm always under. I can't go back on my word now."

"This has to be a difficult decision, but the fans would love to see the dynamic of you working and then going home to loving child. That mixed with your dissolving relationship with John and the discussion about Leo's father would truly spike the ratings."

"Leonardo," she retorted, correcting her assumption that just anyone could refer to him as 'Leo'. "Leonardo doesn't know his father and I won't put him through the process of getting to know someone when he's perfectly fine not knowing."

Stephanie reached over and pulled Nikki's hand into hers and held onto it tightly. "I'm not a therapist, but I can promise you that it would be better for him to find out about his father sooner rather than later."

"If you knew who his father was you'd understand my hesitation."

"That may be so, but wouldn't it feel better to get all of that off your chest? And, what better platform than that of your own reality show?"

Technically, it wasn't her reality show. Not even what happened to her was in her control according to Stephanie. She knew that even if she continued to refuse, Stephanie would force her hand and her son would end up becoming a recurring character on the cast. It wasn't fair.

But, she couldn't say no.

Although Nikki had just gotten back in town for work, she took the first flight out for the night. She wanted to see her son off to bed.

After thanking and dismissing her nanny, Nikki calmly went up to Leonardo's bedroom. The lights were out, but to be sure that he was asleep, she walked around and laid a hand on his cheek. He stirred slightly but remained asleep.

A warm smile filled her cheeks; he was the reason for her happiness.

She thought about how it would affect him, being on Total Divas. He wouldn't have to do much, just simply walk in front of the cameras and act normal, but if anyone asked who his father was she knew he would get suspicious himself. She wasn't sure she could handle the sort of pressure that followed a question like "who is my father?" Especially when she knew the answer.

Nikki wasn't sure what to do. Having only one child and having had him so young, she'd never dealt with a situation such as the one she was dealing with currently. When she found out she was pregnant, people told her that she would regret making the mistake of sleeping with someone before marriage - which, of course, ended up being false - because it never ended positively.

Then, she met Leonardo and realized that those people were wrong. He was positively wonderful.

But, his father on the other hand was another story. They were married for less than two weeks after getting drunk and eloping in Las Vegas. They only knew each other from a run-in at a gas station they'd had a few days before their wedding and after spending a weekend getting wasted in a trashed motel room, she suggested they spend the rest of their lives that way.

It was a happiness she never knew she could have, and never fully experienced again. Two weeks after saying "I do" they realized how big of a mistake they really made. She was twenty, he was nineteen. They were too young. By the time their marriage was annulled, she didn't know she was pregnant. And they never spoke again after they left the courthouse because they never got each other's numbers and nobody really had cellphones at the time.

She knew that telling Leonardo would happen because it was not only the right thing to do but it was the responsible thing to do. He deserved to know the truth, sooner rather than later.

Allowing Leonardo to sleep, Nikki exited the dark room and quietly shut the door behind her. She took her time walking down to her bedroom where she'd left her phone because she knew what she would have to do when she arrived. Nikki closed her door and took a deep breath as she stared at the stained wood. Did she have the strength to do it?

Nikki turned around and changed out of her clothing so that she was wearing pajama pants and a tank top preceding the call she knew she had to make. Picking up her phone from the nightstand, Nikki unlocked it and dialed a number she'd recently learned after pulling a few strings at work. She knew he would be awake. Staying up as late as possible was his forte.

"Hello?"

Listening to the groggy voice on the other end, Nikki's heart began to pound. She was about to back out and hang up when the voice sounded again.

"Who is this?"

Nikki sighed. "Dean? It's Nikki...we have to talk."

Oh...don't get upset with me for having another story up please! I feel like this couple is very odd, but in an intriguing way. I removed "The Way We Were" because it was a very spare of the moment story and I honestly have no interest in continuing with it. I hope nobody is angry...

Should I continue this one? Let me know! :)