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I was so nervous I could've thrown up.
Rhea and I had been going out for a few months now and she was coming back tomorrow after having not seen her for over two weeks.
And since we've already been going out for a couple of months, I figured it was either now or never with telling her about my daughter, Celia.
She was almost two now and my absolute pride and joy. Her father hadn't been in the picture since before she was born but I wasn't nervous telling Rhea about him. Just her. Because if she wants to have me she has to have my daughter too and if she can't deal with that then...
Let's say that my saying I'm nervous is a severe understatement. I was absolutely terrified.
Neither of us had said it yet, but I love Rhea. So much. So if my having a child is a dealbreaker then I don't even know what I'll do.
Tomorrow I'm going to be picking her up from the airport after her last match against Raquel Rodriguez. They're giving her a two-week injury-scripted break after having been in multiple WWE events each week the past few weeks.
We've both been really looking forward to it and had even started planning some stuff for us to do while she was here. Luckily we actually live only one city apart so she doesn't have to get a hotel or stay at my house, just in case anything goes wrong.
Which, I don't think it will but you never know.
I was currently bathing my daughter before bedtime, the worry must've been evident on my face.
"Mama?" Celia spoke up.
Looking down at her I saw her looking up at me, her eyes fixated on my face. There was a little crease of confusion and concern between her brows.
"Yes, my darling?" I questioned her, bending down to give her forehead a kiss as I filled the plastic cup with water again to rinse her hair out.
"Why sad?" She asked innocently, splashing her rubber duck in the water as she played. This duck was Sir Quacks a Lot, who was married to the other Sir Quacks a Lot. They had drama with the Mrs Quacks a Lot and we're currently in an argument about Baby Quacks a Lot.
"Nothing for you to worry that pretty little head over," I grinned, booping the top of her nose, sending her into a fit of giggles and splashes.
After Celia's bath, I dressed her in the fuzzy brown bear onesie I had found for her not too long ago and put her to bed.
Walking back downstairs after making sure Celia was asleep, all the nerves and doubts I had managed to push aside came back and hit me.
I went to go grab a glass of water, noticing that my hand was starting to shake. I decided to just go straight to bed. After all, Rhea was getting in pretty early so I had to be up and get to the airport also super early. At this point, all I could do was hope that she wouldn't leave me.
-Time Skip-
Waiting at the terminal Rhea would be coming out of with a bouquet of flowers was nerve-wracking as hell. She had texted me the estimated time they were supposed to land but it's never exact so I didn't actually know when she would arrive.
After a little over half an hour, I finally saw her plane land and make its way to the little hallway between the plane and the airport. Another twenty minutes later I saw her. For the first time in over two weeks, we were in the same place at the same time, together.
My breath caught in my throat as I watched her look around for me, our eyes finally meeting from across the room.
I watched as her gorgeous face lit up and she started to make a beeline for me.
Momentarily forgetting my nervousness I grinned and stepped forward to meet her in the middle as we collided into a tight hug.
"Hey, beautiful," I spoke, my voice thickening with emotion.
I felt Rhea release a deep sigh of relief against me before she responded, "Hey, baby."
"I missed you," I croaked into her neck, shoving my face into her and breathing her scent in.
"I missed you too," She replied as she stroked my hair with one hand and my lower back with the other.
Pulling myself away from her I just stood there and stared at her face for a second before speaking, "Let's go home, yeah?"
She nodded and grabbed my hand as we started to walk towards the luggage claim to pick up her suitcase.
"So, are those for me? Or..." Rhea playfully questioned me, trailing off at the end as she gestured to my hand holding her flowers.
"Oh!" I exclaimed. I had completely forgotten about them in my excitement of having her here with me again.
"Yes, they're for you, sorry," I apologized, blushing deeply. She chuckled and took them from me, smelling them before kissing my temple.
"They're beautiful, Love. Just like you," She smirked at me causing me to blush yet again.
I ducked my head down to hide the blush as I grinned widely and giggled.
We made idle talk as we walked to the luggage claim and then grabbed her luggage before making our way to my car.
Getting in the car my previous nervousness hit me again in full force. Pausing to just rest my hands on the steering wheel and take a breather I could feel Rhea turn to me in concern, "What's wrong?"
She was giving me an opening, it was now or never.
"I have something I need to tell you." Slowly I pulled my gaze from the dash of my car to her eyes. Her brows were furrowed in concern and her mouth was pulled into a frown.
"Is everything okay?" She asked sort of hesitantly.
I nodded quickly, "Yeah, it's just...something I haven't told you yet that I probably should have."
Rhea nodded in encouragement for me to continue.
I took a deep breath. "I have a kid."
Silence.
"What?"
"I have a daughter. Her name is Celia. She'll be two in October." I whispered into the quiet, too scared of her reaction to be any louder.
She looked lost in thought for the next few minutes, slumping back against the seat.
"I'm sorry for not telling you but I could never find the right time and-"
Rhea cut me off, "Hold on. Just, stop."
I shut my mouth, terrified out of my mind of what she was going to say next.
"I just need a second to process this."
"Yeah, no I understand. It's a lot to take in." I quietly replied, chewing on my bottom lip.
"Why didn't you tell me?" She whispered. She sounded choked up and on the verge of tears which made me start crying.
"Because I thought you would leave and I was scared." I sobbed, covering my face with my hands as if to conceal the tears.
"No, no no no no no." Rhea clamored, reaching for me over the console. "I just wasn't expecting it, that's all." She tried to reassure me, smiling softly. "I could never leave my best girl hangin'."
I giggled at the reference to one of my favorite movies ever and wiped my eyes and nose with the back of my sleeve.
"C-can I meet her?" Rhea asked hesitantly, "It's okay if not I completely under-" I leaned over the console and kissed her, effectively shutting her up.
"Of course, you can meet her. She's actually been asking for quite some time now when she gets to meet 'Ree-Ree'." I laughed, recounting the many times she asked for another bedtime story about "Mama's friend".
Rhea beamed and kissed my cheek, reassuring me once again that she was okay with me having a child. We'd be having a more in-depth talk about it later on but right now it was time for them to meet.
We pulled up to my house almost half an hour later, where my sister was watching Celia while I was out.
Getting out of the car, I grabbed Rhea's luggage for her before she even had a chance to grab it and walked up to the door with my keys. Taking a deep breath I unlocked the door, pushing it open before standing aside for Rhea to walk in first.
She nodded in thanks as she walked through, looking around and taking in her surroundings. My house was a bit more on the unconventional side, being a maximalist and all.
"Zoey?" I yelled into the house to find her after closing the door behind us. "Kitchen!"
I rolled Rhea's suitcase against the wall a little ways away from the door and motioned for her to put her backpack there as well before following me.
I made my way to the kitchen with Rhea following idly behind, still taking in my house. As soon as I laid eyes on my daughter in her booster seat I smiled and made a beeline for her, making "monster" grabby-hands.
She squealed with delight, grinning madly all the while as I unbuckled her and picked her up above my head, blowing raspberries on her exposed stomach making her squirm and giggle.
Bringing her down to rest on my hip I kissed the top of her head as she buried it into my neck. I turned around when I remembered that we weren't alone.
Zoey, my sister, and Rhea were standing next to each other, both watching the two of us with a smile on their face. I side-hugged Zeoy hello before introducing them to each other.
"It's so nice to finally meet you! I've heard so many things about you and Y/n even made me get into wrestling." Zoey exclaimed excitedly, making Rhea laugh. "I've heard a lot about you as well so it's great to meet you too."
"Well, I better get going I have to run some errands before I get home to let the dogs out." Zoey excused herself, grabbing her bag before making her way back over to me.
"Bye-bye CeCe." She cooed, tickling her neck before giving her forehead a kiss. "I'll see you later, sis," She gave me another side hug.
"Rhea, it was lovely meeting you, maybe we can all get together soon while you're here? Oh! We could do a double date with you two and me and my partner!" She excitedly exclaimed.
"Totally! That sounds great, we'll definitely have to get together. I can't wait!" Rhea replied enthusiastically. Zoey gave Rhea a quick hug before bounding out the door, leaving us alone with my daughter.
Rhea slowly walked up to us, I could read the nervousness on her face.
"CeCe, this is mama's friend Rhea, remember?" I spoke gently to Celia. She lifted her head from my neck and looked at Rhea with her big beautiful eyes. I could see Rhea's initial hesitation melt away as they locked eyes.
"Hello there, little one." Rhea greeted her softly, waggling her fingers at her like how she does when she's in character.
Celia must have recognized either her name or her picture because she then started to bounce in my arms as she giggled and held out her arms to Rhea to hold her.
"You wanna hold her?" I asked her, shifting my hold a bit on CeCe.
"Um, I-I don't know. I'm not really sure how I should hold her." Rhea stammered.
"Just like this," I replied, gesturing goofily to how she rested on my hip.
"O-okay," She half-smiled nervously, grabbing Celia under her arms and hefting her gently onto her hip. Celia giggled and wiggled around the whole time, putting her hands on Rhea's face and patting them around.
"Sorry, she likes to do that," I apologized embarrassed.
"It's all good," Rhea laughed, gently removing Celia's hands from her face.
Grinning at my two favorite girls I made an offer they couldn't refuse. "How about y'all go and play while I go and make some breakfast yeah?"
"Yes!" Celia squealed, squirming enough that Rhea put her down. "That sounds great, Love." Rhea chuckled.
Celia raised her arm near where Rhea's hand rested, asking for her to hold her hand. Rhea grabbed a hold of her hand and was immediately pulled away towards the direction of the living room. Rhea shot me a look of panic before disappearing from my view making me laugh.
I put on some music and began making breakfast as Rhea and Celia played in the living room.
After I finished making breakfast I set the table as well, wanting a nice fancy breakfast for Rhea's coming home and first time at my house.
I made my way to the living room to get the two of them to come eat but stopped short in the doorway when I saw them.
Rhea sat on the floor crisscrossed in front of Celia with a tiny plastic crown on her head, a pink plastic teacup in one hand, and a giant plastic dinosaur in the other.
Celia stood in front of her also wearing a tiny plastic crown on her head but I could see that Rhea had given her one of her necklaces to wear as she poured the two of them cups of tea.
I smiled as I watched Rhea play pretend with her, not wanting to interfere with the adorableness. Just seeing Rhea wearing her scary full black outfit with dark jewelry and makeup wearing a tiny pink crown was enough to make me fall madly in love right then and there. And I think I did.
"I hate to interrupt, but breakfast is ready," I spoke up, finally announcing my presence.
Celia bounded over to me, holding out the end of Rhea's necklace she was wearing to me. "Look what 'ea gave me!"
"Wow! What a lucky girl you are! Let's go wash up for breakfast though, yeah?" I picked her up and set her on my hip as I turned to look at Rhea who was blushing furiously.
Grinning at her I playfully asked what was the matter.
"Didn't know you were there," Rhea mumbled, reaching up to pull the crown off.
"Leave it, I like it," I smirked as I turned on my heel to make my way back to the kitchen. I think this could work.