#aftershine

One of Dominik’s favorite things about the line up any given Monday was that he usually got to watch a match or two - people often he hadn’t locked up against, yet. He enjoyed watching the tag-team duo that was the Usos, he loved the chemistry they had in the ring, and wished his and Rey’s chemistry was more like that, more fluid and cohesive. Austin Theory was getting better in the ring, he’d always been good on the microphone, but to hear all that he had accomplished in one year while Dominik was coming up on his third, well that was a bit irritating. He did enjoy watching Rey’s highlight reel, the music banging, as the other legends talked about him. Dominik missed the entrance where he jumped up and out of the stage. He still thought Rey was the most massive legend in the world, but his connection with Rey was starting to be more hatred than love. The bits about Eddie were so important, Dominik felt, as seeing them on screen again filled him with goosebumps and happiness. Hearing his own voice, caught him off guard, he hadn’t realized he was going to be part of the reel - but he supposed their tag team run was one of those things that would go down in history. 

They had a promo cut earlier in the day to air right after that, well earlier in the night he supposed. Danika hadn’t been able to arrive with them, neither had Buddy. Instead they’d arrived together, and had met with the rest of the family, so cameras could catch Rey, Dominik, Angie and Aalyah arriving together - as one cohesive unit. Rey dressed up, as he rounded the front of the car to help Angie out, Dominik helped Aalya out, as the group of four climbed the long hallway. When they reached the party room, Danika was the first one to cup Rey’s face, and kiss his cheeks, “Papi, veinte años, leyenda, ¡te amo!” Rey hugged her, and immediately moved to greet his grandchildren - even Lainey, while Danika hugged Angie and Aalyah, the young girl heading past Danika for Buddy as soon as she could. Danika and Buddy had one job - stay out of the cameras. Dominik felt Danika wrap around his middle, he ducked to kiss her hair, and smiled when she whispered, “I remembered to get Papi’s gift from you, don’t worry.” She laughed as he kissed her nose, bending down with a smile, before he was hauled into the family celebration. 

He caught Danika and Chavo hugging, Chavo whispering in her ear, as he moved to hug Nico and Rosa. Dominik had almost expected Vickie to be there, but in her stead was Shaul and Sherilyn, both of whom quickly hugged Dominik, then moved to hug Aalyah, Buddy, and finally skirting most of those on the Mysterio end of things to post up with Danika and Chavo. Dominik found himself and Rey being hauled out to the ring - when had he become some sort of half-ass bodyguard for his father? - so Rey could give a speech in the middle of the ring. Danika caught his wrist on the way out, and mouthed a quick, ‘te amo’, before she let him go. Rey Mysterio's entrance music blared as the pair of than ran out - Dominik had resigned himself to being a hype man for his father, so he might as well ham it up while he was still on Rey’s metaphorical side, he loitered as he made his way down the ramp, making sure his dad was greeting everyone, before he did. They had their corner moves, Dominik watching his father a bit more critically than he ever had before. It was troublesome, but he realized he didn’t want to be there, in the ring celebrating his father. He wanted to be with his friends. 

As Rey took the microphone the crowd cheered around them, and Dominik, true to his character, urged them on with his hands. He still thought Madison Square Garden was an odd choice of venues to celebrate Rey Mysterio, but Dominik figured that had to do with scheduling. The crowd began chanting, “Thank you, Rey” around them, and honestly Dominik could get behind that chant, in a rather cynical sense, even though he needed to thank his father for the limelight that had brought him this far. “Twenty years, this is special, man.” Rey spoke, his voice familiar and welcoming, it curled around Dominik and he felt worse for all the negative things that had been rattling around in his brain, “Really special.” They paced the ring, always in movement - luchadores. “Now let me give you a little backstory, I was fourteen years old when I had my first match in Tijuana and I never imagined then in a million years that one day I would perform inside a WWE ring.” Dominik hummed, probably because there wasn’t a WWE then, but he held that in for later thought, “Travel the world, make money, and create legendary rivalries for all of each and every one of you to enjoy.” 

Dominik clapped his hands as he bounded on the balls of his feet, “Now, the truth, the truth is, guys my size back then weren’t part of the business, but I was able to break that stereotype.” Sometimes Dominik wondered if his height bothered Rey, he continued to listen to his father, pacing and bouncing happily, nad really he was going to have to talk to someone about how good of an actor he was becoming, because all he really wanted to do was scream, “I broke the so-called blueprint of what a superstar should look like. Now as a smaller guy, and as a damn proud latino,” Dominik clapped, with a smile on his face, “I became world champion at WrestleMania 22. I made a lot of friends along the way. Friends that I want to thank for helping me pave the road for me in my career. You might know some of these names.” Dominik felt his stomach sink, his dad was going to say Eddie’s name, and it always seemed like Rey fell back on Eddie, on everything that Eddie was. “Dean Malinko, K-Dogg. Batista. Kurt Angle.” Each name had the crowd going louder and louder with cheers, “How about Edge?” Dominik clapped at that one, because he knew that was the storyline, but he wasn’t sure if he liked Uncle Adam right now or not - he was one hundred percent confused about everything. “We can not forget the great Eddie Guerrero.” The crowd lost it, and Dominik felt tears on his lashes, he had to bow his head, and attempt to hide the fact, he wiped his eye the best he could as the fans started chanting for Eddie, like they could call him back from the heavens. “Eddie, I love you man, and I miss you every damn day.” Rey was choking up over his admission.

Dominik was barely holding his tears together, as he continued his nervous pace, head down, and biting his lip to prevent the sob that wanted to start. Eddie meant something different to everyone, but he had belonged to Dominik, in a way that maybe he hadn't belonged to anyone else, and Dominik had never been able to fully explain that to himself or anyone else. “I wouldn’t be here without you, I know you're always watching over me. Thank you, Eddie.” The crowd hit a loud cheer again, like they too could feel the ghost of Eddie as it seemed to wrap around them all. Dominik bit his cheek harder, “So the truth is, tonight I stand before you and feel truly humbled and appreciative for all the love and support you guys have given me for the past twenty years.” Dominik rolled his shoulders as Rey paced in a small circle, trying to get his emotions in check. The cheer of thank you, Rey, started up again, while Dominik couldn’t help but send a prayer to the heavens himself for Danika who had talked Damian and Finn out of interrupting this - a small good moment in a sea of otherwise negative ones coming. 

“You know this is special, to be able to live all of that, with my family, it just means much more.” The chant of you deserve it sounded from the crowd, a huge group of people who believed in Rey, who would always believe in Rey. “Angie, Aalyah, I know you're watching backstage, I just wanna say thank you for always being there. I love you both.” The big screen showed half the party people in the back, Danika and Buddy with the kids out of the picture, as usual. “Dom, I’m proud of you son.” And isn’t that just the worst, Dominik patted his heart, right now Rey in front of all these people was saying the one thing that Dominik had been yearning for, for years and it wasn’t for him, not really, it was for the fans to hear. “I’m proud of the man you have become.” No, he wasn’t, Rey didn’t like how Dominik and Danika lived together but wouldn’t honor Angie’s wishes and get married, he didn’t like that Dominik had become a father without being married, he didn’t like how Dominik had fought alongside Danika for custody of Lainey, “And I know that one day, when I’m no longer here…” He held his hand over the ring for a moment, Dominik was nervously bouncing on his feet again, “You’ll be representing the Mysterio legacy to the fullest.” Dominik nodded his head, he was going to represent his legacy to the fullest, he was going to leave a legacy for his kids, for them to rise as Mysterios to the ring if they wanted to, he mouthed thank you to Rey.

“I love you son.” Dominik felt those tears again, but something wasn’t right, not about the admission or how it was done, “WWE Universe-” Rey turned his back as he walked away, leaving Dominik in his proverbial shadow again, the boy recoiled from the thought as it danced through his mind, but was careful to keep his face schooled to one of adoration for Rey, “And everyone watching around the world, thank you for accepting me, for always rolling with the Mysterios, and for twenty of the dopest, most awesome years.” Rey knew how to work a crowd, that was a truth that Dominik hadn’t quite managed to overcome yet, the crowd began to cheer, as Dominik inched closer to his father, “And I believe I saved the best for last. Last but not least, I want to thank all of you here tonight. I could have been anywhere in the world, but I’m here tonight in the legendary and iconic Madison Square Garden celebrating twenty years. Thank you guys, I love all of you.” He paused while the crowd went wild, Rey started his thank yous in Spanish, so Dominik let his mind wander. “Viva mi raza!” He ended the speech, which got a lot of screams, and Dominik couldn’t help but smile.

Dominik inched over again, to squeeze his shoulder and smile - but Rey’s speech wasn’t apparently done, “I love all of you guys, thank you so much, it means the world to me, you have no idea.” Alright, he saw Finn, apparently Danika could only convince them not to be assholes for so long. The fact they’d made it through the speech was an amazing one, not lost on Dominik, whatever Danika had bribed Finn and Damian with, he’d have to get her to pay double, somehow. Finn was sarcastically clapping as he made his way to the ring, the other two couldn’t help but search for Damian and Rhea - was she back yet?. 

“Congratulations!” Finn called, as Damian appeared, stalking to the ring, the pair on either side of the ring, circling them. They did have a match coming up, so they were going to have to face them, but Dominik had hoped for a little more of a breather before they showed up. Finn had Dominik in the corner but by the time the cameras came back from commercial - in the interim they had targeted Dominik only. Rey was ready for the tag when Dominik made it to his side. Dominik made it back to the corner while Rey started dominating Finn, once Dominik was tagged in again, they had a rhythm one out of memory, since they hadn’t created any new moves as a tag-team since this whole issue with the Judgment Day started. Rey was looking for revenge, and Dominik couldn’t help but marvel over how well Priest and Balor worked as one in the ring, for not being a tag-team. Dominik already knew the outcome of the match - Rey was going to pin Finn, but how long that took was up to Rey, this whole match was to show the world his skills. Dominik didn’t mind hovering by the sidelines and watching, not when this was Rey’s night, but Dominik hadn’t agreed with Angie and Aalyah being forced to stay backstage or the continued ignoration of Buddy (maybe he was mad on behalf of Aalyah) and Danika.

Priest caught him when he tried to fly through the ropes, Damian tossed him into the barrier, and once again Dominik knew it wasn’t at full strength, it was enough to look like a bump, but it wasn’t one that was going to leave him injured for long. Damian’s high scream made Dominik cringe, the man roared like the lion he was. Once again Dominik was the target of both Finn and Damian, they were as usual keeping Dominik away from his father, unlike Rey however the pair tended to mutter the planned defense and offense as they moved, careful to make it look like trash talk. Rey and Damian had all eyes on them, Damian’s sheer strength against Rey’s agile speed - it wasn’t a fair match, not even remotely. Dominik wondered if Danika was more worried about him or the Judgment Day at his point, she had love for Rey but she didn’t support his choices when it came to Dominik. Coming back to the match, attention on the almost three-count, Dominik broke up the pin Finn had on Rey (reasoning that his father could fuss at him later for doing something shady), Priest slid the chair into the ring while the referee was distracted by Damian, Dominik helped distract the referee, just for her to turn around in time to see Rey on the floor acting as if the chair had connected with him.

Dominik had a moment to think Eddie Guerrero would be proud, before they were setting the boys up for a dual 619, Rey got the pinfall, and Dominik had to put his acting to the test, celebrating his father, and pointing at him with a huge smile on his face, as tried to lead his father back to the party room. “Papaíto!” Dominik grinned as he caught Lainey who had been running down the hallway, headed straight for him, Buddy about three steps behind her looking as if he knew he had fucked up. Dominik grinned as he kissed Lainey’s head, and spun her around, she immediately looked for Rey, “Abuelo, you were sooooooooo brave!” She sung down at him, Rey shot her a grin, before he thanked her and kissed her little hands. Rey might not agree with Dominik’s life, but he did give Lainey, Rosa, and Nico love. 

The promo celebration was chanting Rey as they made it back, and quickly had to be recut, for Buddy to take Lainey and hurry them out of shot. They shot it a second time, with Dominik following his father, squeezing his shoulders as they met the family shouting for Rey again, cheering him on. Champagne was popped by one of Dominik’s cousins, and it started to rain down on all of them. Aalyah had the only gift that was scheduled to be given on camera, so Dominik could just sort of ride out the champagne and cheering, as the whole family danced and celebrated - bouncing in time for Rey. Rey found the tequila bottle, passed it to Chavo, who immediately moved to uncork it for him - this was a celebration after all. Dominik had to start clapping, everything about the promo had been organized and agreed upon - as far as he knew, beforehand. His father still had a nasty habit of leaving him out of the important information, it had been Danika who told him it was Rhea who would be coming for him, and she only knew that because Damian had kindly told her. Aalyah appeared with her perfectly wrapped gift, and Dominik winced because he had no clue what Danika had gotten for his gift for Rey, he was sure Danika had done something related to the children and Dominik for Rey’s celebration gift, she always seemed on top of her game when it came to that stuff.

“Did you pay for it?” Dominik teased his little sister, who gave him a sharp mocking grin. She hadn’t wanted to be a superstar, but she liked showing up for storylines every now and again, it caused a bit of a rift between them if he were honest. And her continued relationship with Buddy (who he liked for the most part outside of the ring). It was a sight to see, Rey’s original ring gear, from years before. Whatever Danika had managed to make for Dominik to give him wouldn’t touch that, once again Aalyah had won who's the best sibling without even trying. He sort of wanted to bash his head against the nearest wall, once the shock wore off, he glanced at Danika who held up her glass of water with ice cubes in it, a salute, he realized, a warning - he was holding Rey’s original 1997 Halloween Havoc gear, and Danika was warning him that Rhea had arrived. And she had no right to look that beautiful and terrifying in one go.

“Oh, Rhea, please, this is a celebration.” Rey had tried, Dominik went to hold his father back, aware Rhea was there for him, and him alone. Allowing Rey out of the room would spell disaster, he was sure, especially since Danika looked so bothered. 

“This is a special night, there's no need for you to be here.” Dominik had tried, Rhea’s eyes met his and he knew he was going to either hate the next fifteen minutes of his life or love them in so many inappropriate ways. 

Of course Aalyah couldn’t leave well enough alone, Buddy had opted to sort of hide behind Danika, which was a dick move, as Aalyah stepped forward, “I think it’s time for you to leave.” Alright maybe his sister wasn’t over the temporary break she and Buddy had had back January to March, maybe she was still a little upset about Rhea and him hanging out, possibly hooking up, but Buddy had apologized and he had won her back. It took balls to stand up to Rhea Ripley, and honestly Aalyah didn’t have the skills to back it up. Dominik hoped the camera didn’t catch his smirk as Aalyah bodily placed herself between him and Rey, “Get out of here.” The younger woman ordered, Rhea looked down her nose at Aalyah, unbothered and amused. A slight twitch of her wrist was the only warning Dominik got, before Rhea used her whole hand to shove Aalyah out of her space by her face, and back into the rest of the Mysterio family. Dominik stepped forward to attempt to catch her, all he managed to do was shoo her into Buddy’s arms, the man had a vice grip on his younger girlfriend, and was probably relieved that Rhea didn’t break her, honestly, Rhea seized her chance, and grabbed him by the back of his hair, yanking him out through the door, with Rey chasing them.

He had a moment of fleeting worry when Rhea grabbed his hair and jerked him out of the room - and the worry had little to do with how much pain she could probably inflict and everything to do with the spike of arousal the hairpulling caused to bubble in his stomach. Yeah, Danika was going to tease him mercilessly about this. Damian took Rey out with an odd sort of tackle, sphere combination. As Rhea held Dominik away from the exchange, her hand in his hair merciless, she whispered a soft, “Don’t move.” Under her breath, he managed a slight nod of his head, following her lead like he did Damian’s normally, “When we move, you move.” She added, as Damian kicked at Rey, and Rhea, using her grip on his hair, flung Dominik away and down the hallway, “Stay for now.” She ordered, a little firmer, he nodded his head, looking at her in understanding, she graced him with an almost smile, before joining the abuse Finn and Damian were heaping on his father. Rhea picked up the Halloween Havoc gear, and tossed it into Danika’s waiting hands, a whirl of emotions passing between them, before Danika nodded her head, and stepped back, allowing some of the Mysterio family out - and how had Danika managed to hold them back to start with.

Dominik gave chase once he knew for sure where they were going, and as Rhea gave him a fleeting look through the doorway to the staging area where they set up all the things not used in the staging of the seats and ring as well as catering. Finn was screaming about his birthday (Dominik had actually gotten Finn a birthday present but had forgotten to shop for Rey’s 20th celebration, he was maybe an asshole, afterall). Rhea’s shrill, “Get him,” As Damian hoisted Rey up and slammed him shoulder first into a stack of catering tables was his cue, as far as Dominik was concerned, he’d stayed back like Rhea had asked, and now he needed it look like the caring and concerned son. Angie and Aalyah rushed to Rey’s side, first, followed by some of the cousins, some still drinking wine, while Dominik tried to climb over the wreckage to get his father out of the tables, while the group called out for him, “Dom.” 

They seemed to retreat, but not before Rhea had the last word, “Hey, Aalyah, you're boyfriends a bitch.” And then Damian was dragging her away, Finn nodded his head at someone - a glance at the crowd would reveal Danika standing with Rosa on her hip, holding Lainey’s hand, the little girl was holding Nico’s hand. Damian paused in his forward movement to pick up Nico’s little lion up, he looked at it for a moment, before his head turned, Domini watched as he handed it off to Danika, she gave him a measured look. Finn was calling for Damian, even as Danika turned slightly to watch him scurry away, the lion in her grasp. His platonic soulmate might not be interested in storylines, but she was a member of Dominik’s most trusted circle, and apparently she meant something to the Judgment Day. Reassessing his family, he watched as Danika and Buddy took charge, ushering everyone back to the celebration room, even Angie went eventually, Dominik settled beside his dad to wait for the medical staff to come check his shoulder - Rey had hit it hard. Alexa Bliss’s music had barely stopped when the Judgment Day started in on Rey again, Rhea came out of nowhere and kicked him in the shoulder, Dominik hadn’t been there to protect him - he’d been tangled up with both Finn and Damian, the pair teasing him, and calling him Dom Dom.

Danika

“What the hell did you do to Demi Bennett?” Danika hissed harshly at Buddy as they worked on cleaning up the room, and ushering the family back in. Buddy narrowed his eyes at her, “Don’t start with me, dumbass, she made it very clear you were a bitch.” There was a slight twitch to Buddy’s cheek, she liked Buddy, but he was an idiot when it came to Aalyah and his allegiance to the Mysterios. He didn’t make his life easier on himself either, constantly giving Rey and Angie reasons to hate him. 

“I thought I wanted a change, Aalyah is younger you know, it’s hard sometimes to connect so I thought I’d try out someone in the business, she was coming off a break up and I thought we agreed it was casual-” Buddy looked ready to continue a long tirade against Rhea Ripley, but Danika didn’t want to hear it, nor did she want Aalyah who was practically her little sister, to hear it. She elbowed him hard, making sure to hit him square in his flat gut, he let out a wheezing grunt. 

“Stop talking.” Danika growled, “We are going to discuss this later.” She added as Aalyah came back to his side, eyes narrow. “Is Papi ok?” Danika asked softly, taking Aalyah’s hand in hers, and squeezing for comfort. 

“Dom wanted to stay with him, the medical team was looking over him.” Aalyah offered, “What was that between you and Priest.” Aalyah asked, darkly, “As he was walking away, he stopped to pick Nico’s little lion up and handed it back to you like he knew who you were and who it belonged to.” 

“I’m sure it was just in his way.” Danika hadn’t realized anyone had caught Damian handing her Nico’s stuffed lion, which had been kicked into the hallway when Rhea took Dominik, it had been dropped by Nico when he was playing, and they hadn’t been able to find it - Damian had recognized it and handed it back to Danika off camera, before he continued his attack on Rey. 

Aalyah didn’t look like she believed her, mercifully Rey and Dominik returned, then Dom made his way to Danika’s side and dropped Rosa’s purple giraffe in her hands, before placing a chaste kiss on her lips. “Everything ok, cariño?” He asked as he looked over at her with the kids, Lainey was hiding behind her, Nico and Rosa were eating snacks on the table ahead of her.

“It’s fine, babe.” She promised him, “Papi ok?” 

“Looks like. I wanted to give him my gift, where is it?” Dominik asked, softly. Danika pointed to under the table, watched as Dominik pulled a rather large box out, “Thank you, mi alma gemela.”

“Bienvenido.” She offered back to him, deciding to ignore Aalyah’s gaze as she watched Dominik walk across the room to Rey who had shut the door to their party room, and taken a seat by the cake. 

“Jefe, I got this for you.” He presented him with the silver wrapped box, a large golden and red bow on the top of it. Danika watched as Dominik settled it down in front of him, she’d packed his Halloween Havoc gear back up in the gold and silver box it had come out of, and handed it off to Angie. A smile pulled on her lips as Rey opened the large box, she had made a scrapbook timeline of Rey and Eddie Guerrero’s rise to stardom together. She had also had a custom lucha outfit and mask made for him, which had elements of the Halloween Havoc suit in it, and she had found one of Eddie’s original Black Tiger luchador masks, with its authenticity verified. Dominik thought that was everything, but at the very bottom, under it all, was the speech Dominik had written when he thought he was going to announce his father for his 20th year celebration. 

Danika watched his face, watched Dominik realize the adoration she had woven for him, Rey hugged him tightly, “Papi, this one is from us.” Danika approached, on heels, her black dress was fitted to her, showing off her pregnancy well. Her red hair was up in a elegant braid around the crown of her head, the box was much smaller, but Rey opened it with eager excitement, “Lainey helped me design the mask, Papi, and the twins doodled you those pictures, and I give you, Papi, this.” She handed him an envelope that had an all expense paid vacation to the Bahamas in it for him and Angie, it was good for four years, so they could go whenever. 

“Thank you, dulce hija.” Rey took her hand in his and kissed her knuckles. 

“You are most welcome, Papi, I can not tell you how lucky I am that you took me in.” She bowed her head and kissed his mask, sweetly, before she stepped back, so the others could hand out their gifts. The party tapered off after that with Buddy, Aalyah, Angie and Rey heading out before RAW was over to get dinner together, Danika had waved them off, “I’m exhausted.” She had explained, and Dominik had decided to stay with her, and once everyone had shuffled out of the room she’d given him a blinding smile, “We have dinner plans ourselves, let’s find the Judgment Day’s locker room.” She took Lainey’s hand while Dominik scooped up Nico and Rosa, he’d had time to change into street clothes, his gear bag on his shoulder as he trailed after his best friend.

Danika led them to the room Damian had texted her about, relieved when Finn opened the door and he looked normal, “Priest and Ripley are in the showers, hello princess.” He bent down to talk to Lainey, “I gotcha something, doll.” He pulled a shirt from behind his back, a new Rey Mysterio shirt, Lainey grinned warmly.

“We gotcha somethin’ too, Fergie.” Lainey beamed at him with the biggest smile, before digging through her pockets, and pulling out a small box, “Here go.” She handed it off to him, impatiently.

Finn knelt down to open the little box, a small squashed black bow atop a tiny silver velvet case. He opened the case carefully, inside was a set of keys, with a luchador mask as a charm dangling from it, he looked up to Danika who shrugged her shoulder, “Housekeys, for Tampa. We also got you a new leather jacket and Lainey made you a cupcake.” The little girl hurried over to dig a little cardboard box out of the diaper bag that Danika had for the twins, she rushed it back to him. 

Finn opened the box to find a mashed, misshapen chocolate cake of some sort, with purple icing and a shamrock cookie on top of it. He had to bite back tears, his whole face going red with a flush, he had to clear his throat a couple times before he could press forward and kiss Lainey’s forehead, “Thank you princess.” With that he turned his attention to Dominik,  “Not hurt are you, lad?” He asked Dominik, who shook his head, “How are you, lass?”

“Pregnant and tired, and due a conversation with Buddy Matthews.” She offered, as she pushed in and headed for the couch, she curled up on it, yanking one of Damian’s leather jackets off the back of it to curl around her as she yawned, “Dios, growing a baby is exhausting.”

“Do you two know what this one is?” Finn asked as he settled on the other end of the couch, Dominik took a seat on the coffee table, and immediately dug out some toys for the twins, handing his phone off to Lainey. 

“No, we like to be surprised.” Danika explained, “Dom, can you unlace my heels.” She was so tired of having to dress nicely all the time, “Do we have time to swing back by the bus for me to change?” She asked Finn, pleading. He nodded his head as Dominik unlaced her heels, and helped her slide them off her little pale feet.

Damian emerged in jeans with no shirt or shoes from one of the showers, “Hola Bella dama.” He patted her braids as he walked past her, looking for his shoes, “Little ones.” He ruffled Nico, Rosa, and Lainey’s hair as he moved around them, “Ah, here we go.” He grabbed his boots, “That wasn’t too much, right?” He settled down on the floor not far from the table Dominik had sat on. 

“Nah, it will look great for the lead up into Summer Slam, we got a match now, on Saturday in Nashville.” Dominik offered to Danika who rolled her eyes, “What?”

“This is a lot of build up, if Mr. Levesque doesn’t allow you to betray Rey.” Danika said point blank, which brought a giggling Rhea Ripley out of the back room, “Demi Bennett, pleasure to meet you.” 

“I have no idea who you are.” Rhea offered as she moved to join Finn on one of the chairs, “I didn’t hurt you did I, Dom?” She asked sweetly. 

“No.” Dominik offered, “I’m fine, and this is Danika Wesson.” He motioned to Danika, “She’s the mother of this little horde of children.” He pointed them out, “My children.” Danika watched as Rhea’s eyes got big, “We aren’t together or anything,” He added quickly, stumbling all over himself - Danika couldn’t wait to tease him on the crush he obviously had for the femme fatale, “Just best friends who sometimes have babies.” He mused.

Damian laughed, “They are complicated, but not in love. You need to put comfortable clothes on, Bella dama.” 

“Yes, I do. I’m too weak to walk, surely someone will love me enough to carry me.” She pouted, which earned a laugh from the group at large. Damian hauled his shirt on, he’d gotten his boots laced up at some point, and moved to sweep her into his arms, “I do love a strong man.” She grinned, and settled against his chest. 

Rhea looked at the smaller children, before she looked at Lainey, “Hey, wanna piggy back ride?” The little girl nodded, as Dominik scooped Nico up and Finn picked Rosa up, the group as one headed out of the room, and down the back corridor, headed for the exit to the bus.

Danika pressed her face against Damian’s warm chest, “Thank you, Luis.”

“You are welcome, and easily too delicate to be left to your own devices.” He teased her, which made her cackle a little bit, “Seriously, Mami, tiny little slip you are.” She rolled her eyes, but nuzzled into him more, “I bet you’d rather sleep than go out to dinner.” 

She wasn’t going to give that an answer as they reached the travel bus, and all climbed in, she watched Dominik give the driver an address for the restaurant, before Damian put her down, she gracefully climbed to the second floor of the bus to switch into comfortable clothes. Pulling on a red sweater, and bell bottom blue jeans, sliding her feet into converse. She left her hair alone, as she headed back down the stairs. The kids were already crowded together on the couch, with Finn playing against Lainey on the SWITCH. Rhea and Dominik were at the table talking amongst themselves, Damian was on the smaller living room couch, looking large and imposing, she instantly dropped into place next to him. 

He dropped an arm around the back of her shoulders, “You look adorable.”

“So you’ve said, now tell me more about that band you like…” She watched his face light up in excitement, Damian was her favorite human other than Dominik and her kids, hands down. Damian  had launched into an explanation of Twisted Sisters' importance in music history. Damian hadn’t stopped talking about 80s music by the time they reached Mccarthy's Pub. The bus dropped them off out front, Danika leading them down, Lainey in Damian’s arms, Finn holding Nico, and Dominik carrying Rosa, while Rhea brought up the back of the group. 

They were led to the second floor, to a private room. “You picked a place for me.” Finn looked over the moon about the meal venue.  P.J. Carney’s Pub was near Carnegie Hall. Upon entering a sign warned: If you are grouchy, irritable, or just plain mean, there will be a $10 charge for putting up with you. The bar itself was hardwood, and it looked old. There were so many Irish alcohols lining the back of the bar that Finn looked like he was in legitimate heaven, they were led to a private corner, with the hostess eyeing the kids and Danika, at least until Danika whispered to the hostess that they were the Wesson party and that she had ordered a Boozy Irish Whiskey Cake for Finn’s birthday. He looked shocked as the cake was brought out with candles pushed into the top of it in the shape of a crown. They sang him a roaring rendition of Happy Birthday, which had him in tears, even as he skimmed the menu. They let him compose himself, which proved to be worth it when Finn suggested, “Alright, no talking shop tonight.” He decided, “Let’s talk about everything else.”

Danika grinned as they told stories - Damian started, talking about his time in the Indies and going to Rock Concerts, he admitted to the group at large that he only scattered memories of Danika on the Ring of Honor tour in 2018, and how much he wanted to take Danika to a rock show. Finn talked about Ireland, and all the places he wanted to take Dominik and Danika when they were able to go, all the places he went as a kid that he figured the little ones would be interested in seeing themselves. Rhea talked about growing up in Australia, she talked about figuring out how to break into wrestling, she talked about how she made her parents proud, somehow she got on the subject of Buddy - explaining that he’d chased her, and they’d never slept together, but he’d tried and pressured her for it. Damian had chimed in with the fact that he’d been the one to tell the boy to hit the damn bricks, while Finn hissed in irritation. Danika and Dominik talked about their youth. 

“I was a gymnast and a dancer.” Danika offered, “All through high school, Dom did football and soccer, Aalyah was a cheerleader, but I wanted to do gymnastics, so…” She breathed out, “Rey and I danced together, we chose to use that as our bond.” She hummed, “I mean I did some competitions but nothing exciting…” Dominik on the other hand bragged about his grades and his ability to befriend pretty much everyone. 

Damian hummed, leaned over the table, “I sort of want to see you dance.”

“Oh, it’s worth it.” Dominik grinned, “She says it isn’t, but for being non-latino, she can shake it.” Danika swatted his arm, “What, gruñón?” He looked so insulted that she’d swatted him.

The travel bus was an expense he was relieved his dad was paying for (seriously, it’s so expensive to get a bus and a driver, honestly). They left San Diego on Tuesday, after they got the bus, and headed for the next location - Dominik wanted to get a chance to explore the city and take as many moments with his twins as he could before their new little one was born, call him selfish all you want, he wanted memories. San Antonio, Texas is somewhere he’d been before, as well as Danika - but they’d been there with Rey on the road in their teen years. It isn’t always easy for Dominik to blend in when he’s out in Texas and some of the more Hispanic populated cities, but he does his best. 

They spend Wednesday and Thursday just wandering around the town, Danika’s grandparents live there but they don’t stop in, she doesn’t have a relationship with them. By the time the following Monday rolled around they’d been in the city for almost a week, Danika had spent Friday working on her influencer stuff, doing tours of the city, and convincing Angie to be her ‘special guest’ for a series of ghost tours and garden tours around the city. Dominik spent his Friday and Saturday doing house shows nearby. Saturday and Sunday they’d spent with Angie and Rey, mostly Dominik working out with Rey while Danika worked on his gear - he didn’t ask her to make repairs, but she did, she also tended to pick the designs on them, he’d pay her as his personal assistant if she wanted him to, but unfortunately… She was the more sought after celebrity in their friendship, and definitely had the bigger bank account. 

She’s in the arena again, tonight without backup, holding both babies, and tucked away safely close to the barricade. He thanks his lucky stars every time he wakes up and she’s still in his life, they really are platonic soul mates, the problem with them - is that she can’t seem to say no to him. Which is why she’s pregnant again, and the mother of his twins. He pouts and she does her best to brush his tears away, it always ends up in a bottle of topshelf tequila from Mexico, and then a morning of what the fuck, not again. But, he digresses, he has bigger fish to fry. Currently he and Rey are watching Brock and Theory run their mouths again, with Paul Heyman between them. He was trying to find a way to talk Danika into getting him a dog of some sort, for when she can’t be on the road with him. 

They go out after Brock’s thing, which is funny to a point, in red, white and blue tonight. Well, Rey has a match against Finn Balor by himself, and Dominik is beyond sure he’s going to be the one in pain before the end of the night Damian likes to help Finn win, however that shakes out. So far it’s ended with him in pain. After they entered, he looked through the faces - finding Danika, with holy shit Shaul Guerrero standing next to her. Shaul might as well be Dominik’s older cousin, they hang out sometimes, but Shaul’s appearance is something of a surprise even to Rey, who when the lights go out whispers to Dominik that he didn’t know Shaul was coming. She has only watched him a handful of times since he debuted, she herself didn’t stick in the WWE longer than getting her husband. “All rise.” Damian ordered in the mic, when it didn’t work, he shouted, “All rise and show proper respect for the Judgement Day.”

Dominik clocked it when Damian sighted Danika in the fans, a sort of smile bloomed on the man’s face, quickly replaced by a violent smirk, “Dominik what happened last week to you and your father, that was justice. Justice for the Old Guard, justice for the way things used to be. Like in two weeks at Madison Square Garden, Rey Mysterio will be celebrating his 20th anniversary in the WWE.” Rey nodded his head at Damian’s truth, “Yeah, face it Rey, you're done.” The cheering of the crowd tapered off with the statement. “You're washed, it’s over.” The crowd booed, “Dominik, your father has nothing else to offer you.” Danika had said the same thing that morning, when Dominik mentioned how much training Rey wasn’t doing with him anymore, “No wisdom, certainly no strength, all he has is an ugly mask and some old, tired, circus-like tricks that aren’t even yours.” The last part was yelled into the microphone. “However, we have something more to offer. A whole new set of rules, Dominik.”

Oh shit, Dominik realized, this was his heel. He was actually going to join the Judgement Day at some point, just like Danika had guessed. He’d sort of hoped it would be them, he liked the way Damian treated him, when he wasn’t beating the shit out of him. “Yeah, it sounds good doesn’t it.” Damian’s voice softened as he said it, directly looking in Dominik’s eyes, “The future of this business will be decided by the Judgement Day.” That was a ballsy statement, especially since they were down a member currently, and had pissed off all the legends with their treatment of Edge, “And you're welcome to join it, man.” Rey’s hand landed on Dominik’s shoulder, he had been swaying lightly on his feet, eyes watching Damian, prepared for the attack that was sure to come. The crowd started to boo, “That doesn’t matter.” Damian promised as he pointed to them, almost directly at Danika who winked when Dominik did look, Shaul looked amused herself. “None of that matters,” It sounded like Damian was talking about more than the WWE Universe disliking him, “Join the Judgement Day, step out of your father’s shadow.” 

He wouldn’t admit it, but that struck a nerve. “Blaze your own path, man. Elige tu vida.” Dominik sort of hated how beautifully Damian spoke Spanish, honestly, “Rise with the Judgement Day,” Damian stepped into his space, “Or continue to fall alongside your father.” This close he could smell Damian’s cologne, the same that was wrapped up in the hoodie that Danika was apparently keeping regardless of what Dominik said. True to his character, baby face or not, he scrunched his nose up as Damian glared toward Rey, afraid to look at Shaul or Danika, both of them would know exactly how effective the speech had been on him, regardless of if Rey noticed or not. 

Finn’s accent always made Dominik want to smile, it was bubbly and elegant even when he was yelling, “Whoa, whoa, whoa, Priest.” He slid his hand down Damian’s arm bringing him back to his side and giving Dominik clean air again, although he sort of missed the man’s presence. “Dom, when are you going to learn? You need to start seeing things like Judgement Day, you think your daddy can protect you?” Dominik had to sink his teeth into his bottom lip, no my dad thinks he can protect me from decisions I make, I don’t want his protection, “Woooo Rey Mysterio the legend, you know who else is a legend? Edge.” Well that was a threat, now wasn’t it. Dominik glanced at his father, while Finn continued, “And we all saw what happened to Edge, you know what? Why don’t we take another look?” He motioned to the screen above the gorilla. “Boom.”

They really had taken out Edge in a very violent manner. They were proud of what they did, proud of how they treated Edge, Rhea had been instrumental in their violence. Dominik might be the only one who thought it, but he had a feeling Rhea was the one calling the shots, “That’s right, Edge is gone.” Finn gloated, “Not coming back, adios, goodbye, and you know why?” Damian waving goodbye and smirking was sort of hilarious next to Finn who looked so serious with the veins in his neck popping, “Because he was a bad leader. And you know what Rey? Just like I told you before, not only are you a bad leader, but you're a bad father.” Ok, Finn went there, and Dominik? He wasn’t sure how he felt about that, actually. The crowd booed so loudly, Rey held his ground, glaring up at Finn with his bright blue contacts through his mask.

Rey turned to Dominik, “¿Crees que soy un mal padre?” He wasn’t on the mic when he said it, but Dominik probably didn’t answer fast enough. Dominik tried to reassure Rey, he did, but he wasn’t vocal or maybe the residual truth of Damian’s stupid speech was ringing in his ears, and poisoning his brain, rotting him from the inside out, he was so good on the microphone it wasn’t even fair. Rey moved first, attacking Finn. Dominik moved to help his father, and it seemed like it’s going to work as the Judgement Day dropped out of the ring, for the time being. They had a few moments to regroup, Dominik watched as Damian stalked in front of the barrier, shooting a wink toward Danika who did her best not to roll her eyes. When Dominik met her gaze she mouthed ‘ebb and flow’ at him, he tilted his head just a little to let her know he’d heard her, just as Shaul asked her a question. 

Once the referee had the match organized again - with Priest and Dominik on the outside of the ring, while Finn and Rey locked up in the ring, he wasn’t sure how it happened, the movement between the two faster than most of the moves that Dominik pulled off regularly, Finn had his knees on the back of Rey’s neck, holding him down. There is a trade off, of some sort, a natural rhythm to Finn and Rey in the ring that Dominik felt a spike of jealousy for - he only connected with a few people in the ring: Seth Rollins, Damian Priest, AJ Styles, Buddy when he’d been in the WWE officially. Taking his eyes off the match for just a moment, Danika had Nico and Rosa on her hips, their noise canceling headphones on, while the three were cheering for Abuelo! A smile pulled on Dominik’s lips, his kids might not understand what was going on, but they loved their Abuelo. 

Finn had Rey on the ropes, and was using his leg and strength to push Rey’s chest against the biting material. Damian punched him while the referee was hauling Finn back. With the speed up, again, Dominik paced the outside of the ring mainly near his father’s corner, everytime his dad dominated, he would jump up and down and cheer for his father, Finn got Rey down for a two count, but Rey kicked out. Finn got a chin lock, and another two count. Dominik continued his rhythmic tapping at the mat to encourage his dad, shouting at Finn, while Rey forced them up. The vertical suplex looked painful, Dominik winced, as a few minutes later his knee was injured by the dangling down the ropes, Dominik glanced toward Shaul and Danika - Shaul pulled a face, flicking her gaze to Damian and Finn - he felt seen and judged and Dominik didn’t like the disapproving glance. “You're dad can’t protect you all the time.” Finn taunted as he brutalized Rey, Dominik had inched toward the side of the ring opposite where he’d been loitering, not sure that he could interrupt the match at all - afraid that Rey would be upset with him if he helped. 

It looked like Rey was going to remain in control, but Finn was smart, and determined (possibly a little unhinged). Finn continued to target Rey’s knee. He attempted a 619, executed it perfectly, as he limped to the corner, and climbed to the top rope, he flew - but no one was there, but somehow Rey managed to drop them into a rolling crucifix and get a two count. Trading blows with the ropes between them, was always a risk - Dominik watched on in irritation as Finn got another two count, Finn resumed targeting Rey’s knee, as he climbed to the top rope, a perfect Coupe De Grace to the chest, the Judgment Day’s music flooded around them, as Dominik moved to check on his father, Damian and Finn boxed him in as their music blared, the pair moving back, Damian raising Finn’s arm - the seeds of doubt had been sewn, and as much as Dominik didn’t want to even think about it, when Hunter came to him one on one and asked him to flip - he was going to do it. Something like resolution settled against his rib cage. Dominik carried Rey backstage, during the next break, following along behind the Judgement Day without realizing he’d fallen into their flow again. 

He had to take Rey to medical, his knee really had popped out there. On the way he found Shaul and Danika had joined them with Danika holding Rosa and Nico on Shaul’s shoulders, “Hello cousin.” Shaul winked at him, “Uncle.” She smiled at Rey, “That was a good match, I had a meeting with some business partners down here this week, so I offered to tag along tonight, but I wanna get back to the hotel and Matt.” She passed Nico back to Danika, “Before I forget, Matt told me that Priest can be a bit of a bastard.” She met Dominik’s eyes, “Be careful who you trust, ok? I know some of that is a storyline, but Dom, I saw…” Danika elbowed Shaul, and shook her head slightly. Shaul rolled her eyes, “Fine, ok.” She hugged both Dominik and Rey, before turning and walking away. 

“I’m going back to the bus.” Danika offered, “I need to get some paperwork together for Lainey.” She explained.

Dominik nodded his head, “Nos vemos luego. Te amo mis corazones.”

“We love you too.” Danika whispered, before she headed out of the backstage area, walking toward the side parking lot where the buses were waiting. Dominik turned his attention back to Rey, to find his father studying him. Dominik hugged him, hoping to brush his worries off. Whatever fears Rey had about Dominik, the younger man didn’t want him to be attempting to work them out right now.

Danika

Rey had been cleared for his knee, the physician encouraging him to get lots of rest and ice it for the night, with Nico crying over an ear infection that wasn’t going to happen, so they’d had dinner together, admittedly late, before he took off to a nearby hotel. Dominik offered to put Rosa to bed, since Nico wouldn’t let his mommy go. Danika, after about three hours of frustration, decided to take him for a walk around the parking lot, in the lights above, obviously, so Dominik wouldn’t worry. 

It was on her walk that she sighted a familiar tall figure lurky around the side of the building. Did this man not have anything else to do at night? When did he sleep?

“If we keep meeting like this people are going to start talking.” Damian turned to look at her, “Luis.” She approached, slowly, in a loose t-shirt and he assumed shorts, with converse on her feet, in her arms Nico was asleep, “Nico has an ear infection, so he won’t sleep in his bed, or alone.” She explained, when Damian motioned to the child, “His sister mercifully does not have an ear infection, and is fast asleep with her stuffed animals.” 

“You are a sight, you know that.” He hummed, in shorts and a TapOut muscle shirt his hair was pulled up in a bun and he looked less than friendly. “I promise only one question,” she made a motion like go on, “How long are you staying in San Antonio? I’ll be here until tomorrow night with Finn.” He offered. 

“We are here for the next two days. Dominik and his dad have someone to visit with.” She rocked Nico slightly. 

“Want to get lunch with me? I need to apologize for not remembering you, more clearly and I want to apologize for assuming things and I think you're nice.” 

She narrowed her eyes on him, “That was two questions. You do understand I’m currently pregnant, with my third child, right? I may be twenty-three but I am not at all the rockstar lifestyle Luis, and I never expected you to remember me, I was pretty forgettable.” 

“No I can see that, but you call me by my name.” He countered, “I’m not a character to be billed or played for you. You don’t see me as a menace to society or whatever they are calling me. You see me. You saw me back then, too, holding me back from bad decisions even when I lashed out at you, taking care of the mistakes I did make, making sure I got from place to place, you held me when I would cry because I lost or I missed mi familia.” She shifted Nico again, he was almost too tall for her to comfortably hold while pregnant. “May I?” Damian reached to gently take Nico from her arms and cradle him against his toned chest. 

“Thank you, my arms were tired.” She admitted, “So why were you creeping around the parking lot at nearly two in the morning after a show?” She asked around a yawn. 

He seemed in awe of the little boy in his arms so she gave him a long minute, she could read the longing on his face - had Luis been a father once? Had anyone ever loved him enough to allow that?  “I was honestly hoping to run into Dominik.” He admitted, “I wanted to talk to him a bit about some moves I think he would be able to use with limited disruption of what Mysterio has already taught him.”

“Hm.” Danika looked up at him thoughtfully, “Come on, Mysterio as you call him got a hotel because of Nico’s crying.” She tugged on his hoodie pocket to get him moving and led him back across the parking lot to where the rental bus was parked. She climbed up the stairs and gently took Nico back once she was at the top, “Dominik your friend is here.” She hummed as she pushed into the living area on the bus, “Well, come on Luis.”

Dominik looked surprised to see Damian Priest trailing behind her. She supposed that was fair, “Rosa still asleep?” Dominik nodded, “Ok, I’m going to bed, te quiero.”

Dominik 

“Te quiero.” Dominik kissed her forehead as she passed by with Nico, his eyes on Priest. “It’s like two am?”

“If you're up for it there’s a gym that stays open all night like two blocks from here. We can work out. I have a couple ground grapples I think you should try.” Damian offered, “And I asked you're not-girlfriend to lunch with me tomorrow, if that’s cool?”

Dominik snorted, “She makes her own decisions, she makes a ridiculous amount of my decisions, actually.”

Damian shrugged, as they headed back off the bus. “It’s this way.” He pointed toward the lights of town past the arena, “Finn is waiting for me there, I figure you know Finn and probably won’t hate spending time with him?” Dominik shrugged, he didn’t really know either of them very well, he knew they were older - just turned forty he thought - and had been working together for over twenty years, in WWE and in the Indy circuit. “So, you really don’t mind me taking Danika to lunch tomorrow?”

“I’d like to remind you that the world doesn’t know the connection between myself and Danika, so try not to take her out somewhere too public.” Dominik offered as they continued to walk through the darkened parking lot, their long legs eating up the distance a lot faster than he normally moved - Rey and Danika couldn’t match his stride, so normally he matched their strides. 

“I figured.” Damian hummed, “I have a friend in town who is going to let me rent out his tiny restaurant, just going to cook her traditional food.” He explained, “I looked up this whole list of things she can’t have while pregnant, before you ask, and I’ll make enough for her to bring you back some.” 

Dominik snickered, “Thank you, what are we doing, anyways?”

“You're papi taught you his style, you're good at it, a little tall, and a lot lanky, but those moves are made for speed not height and striking power. I want to show you some moves that will help you with the luchador stuff he’s already taught you. No matter what Balor or I say, both of us agree, your father is a legend, and a good man in the ring.” 

Dominik frowned, “But you're right, too, he doesn’t connect with me, like he used to.”

Damian tossed an arm across his shoulders, “You're father and son, already legends, eventually you are going to have problems in the groove.” He explained, “No one has done before what you two are doing.” 

That was what made Dominik want to share with Damian, and want to tell him the truth. “Danika is my best friend. I don’t want you using her,” Dominik stated as soon as they moved from the parking lot to the sidewalk, “Everyone always guesses about our relationship but… the thing is we're platonic soulmates. I’m the one who crossed the line when I was heartbroken twice and we have the twins and are expecting another. My mom wants us to get married and my dad wants to keep pretending I’m perfect and innocent and can do no wrong. It’s a lot ok. And I don’t want you or anyone else jerking Danika around to get to me.”

“One, I'm not that kind of asshole.” Damian snapped at Dominik, “And two I had already figured out you two were complicated.” 

Dominik stopped short, “You were just going to leave it on complicated weren’t you? I just blabbed for no reason. Jesus, my dad is going to be pissed.”

“I won’t tell anyone.” Damian rolled his shoulders and nudged the younger man, “She’s a different kind of scary than Rip, you're Danika.” Dominik would be the first to agree. Rhea Ripley and Danika Wesson were both scary in much different ways. “We don’t need to talk about her with Finn, I haven’t exactly told him my plans to spend lunch with her tomorrow.” 

“There is one other thing, she’s in the process of fighting for her younger sister, Delainey.” He explained, “There is a huge age gap between them, Lainey is only five.” He explained, “So, she’s going to be a mother of four sooner rather than later.” 

Damian gave him a look, “Are you telling me to back off or are you warning me she’s a bit messy?”

“Both?” Dominik shrugged as they turned a corner a block away from the arena, and headed toward BURKS 24 HOUR GYM. Damian held the door open, the only other occupant was Finn who looked up a bit perplexed, then looked at Damian who must have done something with his face, because Finn offered a smile of sorts, and motioned them over.

“Dominik.” Finn grinned, “Nice ta see ya, mate.”

“You too.” Dominik agreed, before he looked between them, “Do they have a ring here?”

“They have something better.” Damian looked like a kid in a candy store, “They have an olympic trampoline.” 

Finn nodded excitedly, rubbing his hands together just as excitedly, “Come on, kid, let's polish that drop kick, some crossbodies, you have a killer arm drag thing, but we wanna show you another one, that works with your height…”

“We wanna do some DDT stuff other than the tornado, don’t get us wrong, you are killer with the lucha moves once you get in a groove, you're pretty good with flying with your height, and agile.” Damian grinned, “Big Shows Alley Oop, a variation of the backbreaker I do, Khali’s vice grip, and Khali’s Punjabi Plunge.” 

“Wow, in one night?” Dominik blinked.

“Nah, chico, we want to start working on this stuff tonight, next week there will be another gym and we will work on this stuff again - if you want.” Damian offered, and Dominik - he grinned, excited about the prospect of a work out. What he wanted more than anything was to be good in the ring, better than what everyone expected of him - his heart felt like it was flying, from the moment Rey had told him Creative wanted to move him toward solo competition… he’d been sort of floundering, looking between Damian and Finn he could feel something shift, the thrill of something that was just his flooded his veins.

Danika

Dominik’s text message had been vague, just before seven in the morning. Can you make breakfast for me, and two guests? She assumed Fergal Devitt would be their third guest, so she worked on making a simple European Fry-Up for breakfast, food and cuisine culture had been what had sprung her to stardom in the first place, she’d attend culinary school before she started creating ‘college recipes’ taking elaborate meals and making them easier for college kids to utilize on a budget. 

Her morning had been interrupted before the text, with a call from Angie letting her know that their lawyer had arranged for Angie to assume temporary custody of Delainey, on the condition that Angie fly the younger girl out to Danika immediately. Danika was so excited about her little sister joining her on the road. The five year old had been in foster care since her father went to prison, following their mothers overdose, three years ago. It had been a long, hard road for the court system to take Danika seriously. She doubted they would have if not for Angie and Rey supporting her pleas and helping her get a family lawyer that kicked ass all over San Diego. 

Dominik pushed the door of the travel bus open, and led both Luis and Fergal in, “Morning, Luis, morning, Fergal.” She nodded her head at them both, Damian shot her a smile but Finn looked perplexed, she wondered if no one ever bothered to call them by their real names. She shrugged it off as she set the table, “Good work out, cariño?” She asked Dominik, who had plopped down at the table between Nico and Rosa’s high chairs, he dropped a kiss on both their heads, before looking up at her and nodding his head proudly. She loved when Dominik was confident, when he was feeling himself. In her opinion he should always be feeling himself, honestly. 

“Danika,” Dominik grinned, “This is Finn Balor, who looked completely thrown off since you called him by his birth name.” He gave Finn a sharp smile, “Danika does her homework on WWE stars, anyone I might work with, so I have some sort of advantage, you know?” Finn found himself being pushed into a seat by Rosa, while Damian ducked into a seat by Nico. Danika settled plates of food in front of them, then set about making tea for Finn, like she just knew, and coffee for Damian. She poured orange juice for Dominik, ruffling his hair affectionately, then handed both Rosa and Nico sippy cups of milk, before she made her own plate and poured herself a glass of ice water. 

“Did you three have a good work out?” She grinned watching all three of them tear into their food, like starving men. She knew how much food Dominik had to consume to keep up with his training regiment, so she could only imagine how much both Fergal and Luis had to eat on the regular. 

“We’ve agreed ta teach ‘im new moves.” Finn offered, “This tea is spot on, love.” He added, “Did your research, proper.” He added, before ducking his head back down and shoveling more eggs in his mouth.

Damian rolled his eyes, “This is delicious, Danika.” He winked at her, “Thank you for feeding us, Finn is flying out after he showers at the hotel, so he’s probably going to eat like a mad man.” He snickered at her amused look toward Finn, “Hello again, little man.” Damian grinned down at Nico, “Ears feeling better today?”

“For the most part he seems like he feels better.” Danika agreed, “And Rosa doesn’t seem like she’s getting an ear infection, so we are mercifully peaceful this morning.” She looked at the nearly empty plates, “Would you like some more, I made a full English.” She glanced between the trio, and smirked as three plates were tentatively pushed toward her, “What time is Papi supposed to be here?” She asked Dominik even as she moved to plate their second helpings.

“Around nine, we are going to see some legend who apparently lives around here.” Dominik said with a shrug.

“Make sure you call Vickie at some point today, Shaul no doubt sent her a worried message or three after last night, you know she thinks you should be elevated and in singles already, that you are putting in the work and Papi isn’t supporting it correctly.” She brought their plates back to them, “Also, Mami called, and Lainey will be flying in today with Mami, to go on the road with us. I’m so happy I could burst.” 

“That is good news, mi mejor amigo.” Dominik caught her wrist and kissed her palm, before leveling Damian with what she assumed was supposed to be a meaningful look.

“How old is Lainey?” Finn asked, “Another child of yours?” He didn’t ask Dominik, smart enough to know he wouldn’t get a straight answer, she assumed. Smart man Fergal Devitt, she decided, obviously the current brains of the Judgment Day while Rhea Ripley was away. 

“My younger sister, she’s five this year, we share a mom but have different dads. I’ve been fighting for custody of her for three years, she’s been in foster care.” Danika explained, “I just want her home, with mi familia.” She explained, “With Abuelo and Abuela, with Dom, with Aalyah, with me.” She knew she sounded a bit devastated, but honestly she had spent three years worrying about her younger sister, flying every other weekend to San Diego to check on the little girl at whatever foster home Lainey was in. 

“That sounds like good news.” Damian gave her a warm bright smile, “La familia lo es todo.”

“Yes.” Dominik sounded stricken for a moment, “Family is everything.” Danika reached for him and squeezed his wrist, whatever discord was brewing between him and Rey was getting worse, she wanted him and Papi to bridge the gap before the heel turn, which she could tell was coming - with or without the Judgment Day, Dominik wasn’t being utilized like he should be. 

The pair left after breakfast with Finn promising to bring her a cook book full of Irish recipes she could play with, and Damian promising the same with Puerto Rican traditional food. Danika watched them leave before she looked sharply at Dominik, “You like them.”

“I do.” He nodded his head, “Liking them makes it easier to work with them in the ring, they have this list of moves they think I can pull off, sure they belonged to legends but they are helping me modify them, so they will be my moves, I’m going to work out with them on Monday nights, so I might need your help. I don’t want Jefe to know, just yet. No lo haría sentir orgulloso.” 

“No, he wouldn’t be proud.” Danika agreed, “But you have to live your life, Dominik.” 

Before their conversation could continue Dominik’s phone sounded, “I’m going to shower, answer him please.”

So Danika found herself on the phone with Rey, explaining that they hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before, while she washed dishes and kept him on speaker phone. He was on his way from the hotel, and would like Dominik to be dressed and ready to go - in a sort of passing way he asked if she wanted to keep the twins with her or not, but she assumed she would be doing that anyway, Abuelo very rarely took the twins out when he was in his mask persona. She’s almost jealous that they are going to see Undertaker (Mark Calaway). 

She spent her morning getting ready for what was sure to be an interesting date with Luis, she even dressed both of the kids up. Might as well look adorable, just before noon, there was a knock on the bus door, she opened it to find a mostly normal looking, with a rental SUV behind him. “Car seats?” He asked, when he noted the toddlers with her.

“Yeah, can you grab them, I’ll grab the carseats and the diaper bag.” She waited for him to scoop up both Rosa and Nico (they called him big bear, well they called him gran oso), then headed back to the table to carry each car seat down individually before doubling back to grab the diaper bag, and her keys to the bus, along with her cell phone and wallet. “Alright, let’s put these in…” She was quick at putting the carseats in the back, Damian watched her before he moved to settle Nico into the rear-passenger car seat, then headed around to the other side of the car to buckle Rosa in as Danika walked him through it. 

Once the kids were settled in, and the doors shut, he rushed back around to open the door for Danika, taking her bag to put in the backseat between the two car seats, Damian carefully shut the door, and hurried around to the drivers seat again, “Thank you for coming out with me today?”

“Oh, you're welcome.” She shot him a bright smile, “Dominik had to go with Papi to see the Undertaker.” She offered casually, “Something about Edge, no doubt.” She added with irritation in her voice, “Sorry, I don’t like Uncle Adam, or how he treats Dom or Aalyah.” She shrugged, “What are we doing?”

“I want to cook for you, chica bonita.” Damian offered, “And I am dying to know how you got so fluent in Spanish.” 

She snickered, “I failed Spanish in seventh grade, did you know that?” He chuckled as he shifted the car in drive, “That was the year my dad took off, and my mom overdosed.” She said with a shrug, “I had to take the class over again, but I was immersed in Spanish, it's rare for Dom and his family to speak English in the house, so I picked it up quickly. On the fly, I got this little trophy that said most improved student. Naturally I took Spanish all four years of high school to learn proper Spanish, since half of what I learned was slang, but.” 

“You're good, could easily pass as a native, if not so pale.” He guided the car out of the arena parking lot.

She rolled her eyes, “Yes, weto.” She muttered, her voice sour with the affect.

“Where did you learn that?” Damian asked, a bit worried.

She shrugged her shoulders, “I’ve traveled as part of the Mysterio familia for years, you hear things.” 

“That word, often, is not nice.” Damian huffed. Danika didn’t respond, she’d heard it her whole life, usually hurled at Dominik by other members of their family, Vickie had been the one to explain it to her, at first, what it really meant. “We are going to Cocina El Jibarazo Latin Cuisine, I know the owner Papote Rodriguez.” He explained, “And he is going to let me use one of his food trucks to cook for you, pequeño. He also made food for you to take back to Dom.” 

She gave him a warm smile, “That sounds lovely, Luis.” 

The building was a sort of bright yellow that was almost off putting. Damian climbed out of the car once he parked, and headed to talk to a man who looked jovial. He pointed to a food truck that was blocked off at the end of the block, with a sort of fencing around it. She assumed that was to prevent people from joining them, the truck was facing away, so she was curious if there was a table or something prepared. Damian was back, and pulled the SUV around to the far side, where a rather nice table had been set up, complete with an umbrella overhead, and two high chairs. 

The pair climbed out and helped the twins out, she secured them in their high chairs, and provided them with some toys. She watched amused as Damian moved them into a safe spot in the food truck, out of the way, “Want to be my sous chef?” He asked softly, she grinned at him, nodded her head, and laughed when he passed her an apron, she instantly pulled her hair up into a messy bun, and winked at the kids. “We are going to make Mofongo.” Damian explained, “We are going to use chicken as our filling because you are pregnant.”

“Ok.” She offered, “What do you need me to do?”

“First our ingredients.” Damian hummed, “We need four of the unripe plantains.” He pulled them down from somewhere above them, “The crushed garlic.” She found it on the spice rack and added it to the counter they were working on, “I had Papote prepare the chicharrones for us.” He pulled a basket free over the stove, “Olive oil.” She found both the olive oil and vegetable oil, holding them both up, Damian nodded, “We will need both.” Then he settled the salt and pepper down, “Alright, ready?” 

“So ready.” She grinned, she pressed to the side, kissing both Rosa and Nico’s heads, “You should be glad these two have absolutely no qualms about eating everything.” 

Damian pulled a large pan free from where it was hanging over the twins, “Alright, we need about two inches of vegetable oil in the pan.” She poured the vegetable oil liberally, making Damian grin at her, he poured the heat on, then motioned toward the plantains, “You make a shallow cut along one of the lengthwise ribs of the plantain and carefully peel the skin by. It will also be easier if you soak the plantain in hot water for no more than two or three minutes to soften the skin.” She did as he asked, heating the plantains in warm water, then peeling them, “You’ve worked with plantains before?” She bobbed her head, “Ever made Mofongo?”

“No.” She admitted, “I try to stay away from extremely traditional food.” She admitted, sheepishly, “I sometimes cook traditional Mexican food for Vickie, but…” She shrugged. Damian split the four peeled plantains between them, and showed her how far apart to cut them, dicing them up into roughly one-inch round slices. Then he put the first batch of plantain slices into the heated vegetable oil, turning them golden for the right consistency.

“Put a paper towel in that bowl, all the cooked plantain pieces need to go in it, until they dry.” Damian offered, watching as Danika did as he asked, with no complaints. “Can you reach that mortar?” He asked, pointing toward a wooden pestle and mortar set, she tried to reach, but was too short, so he snagged it for her, and settled it down on the counter, “Take four or five pieces of plantain at a time, smash them up with the garlic cloves, we add the chicharrones, a pinch of olive oil, some salt and pepper, and mash.” He snagged another pester and mortar and got to work, she copied him. 

“Next we shape our mixture.” He rolled some in his hands into a ball, then flattened the bottom, “Like this.” She copied him, hers coming out smaller, he grinned, “You make two, for the bebe mama, I will make two for us.” 

“Don’t make fun of my small hands, Luis.” She warned, before slinging a bit of the mixture at him.

“Do not waste the food, pequeño terror.” He warned, giving her a rather menacing look, she gazed up at him innocently in a or what sort of way, “Eres problemático.” He bent down enough to press a chaste kiss to her forehead, “So much trouble.” He grinned at her warm smile. “Alright, make a little pocket at the top, a little hole…” He pressed his knuckle into the first one he had made, to make a concave hole, she again copied him, “And now we add our filling.” He scooped some of the premade chicken out of the bowl, and pressed it into the pocket, “You're turn.” He grinned as she again did what he asked, “You follow direction, very well, mi amor.”

“Thank you, I try hard.” She looked at their four Mofongos, “What else goes with it?”

“Normally a salad of some sort.” He offered, “But today we are going to have Brazo Gitano, made by Papote.” He explained, “I’ll plate everything if you want to carry the plates out, I’ll get the twins.” He moved quickly, plating the food so she could carry them out to the table, Damian carried the highchairs with the twins, one in each arm, back to the table, before he took his apron off and helped her out of the one she’d borrowed, he sat the table while she cut up the Mofongo and Brazo Gitano for Rosa and Nico. He poured glasses of lemonade for them all.

“Thank you, Luis, for showing me your cooking side.” She offered, as she bit into the Mofongo, “Oh my Dios.” She moaned, “This is the best.” She breathed out, “So good!” Damian snickered, as the kids set about destroying the food on their plates, “I told you, they eat everything.” She grinned even wider. When they finished up eating, they headed back to the bus, the kids napping. Danika led them into the travel bus, and ordered them to an afternoon of cuddling on the couch. Danika smiled as Damian held her to his side, the kids stretched out over his legs, as they watched the WWE and Scooby Doo crossover. She grinned to herself as he pressed kisses to the back of her head every now and again. With a text message from Dominik, Damian untangled himself, and bid her goodbye, not wanting to be there when Rey and Dominik made it back.

Dominik

July 18 – Tampa, Florida

Monday’s are a never ending sort of high in his opinion. A rollercoaster of emotions that start Sunday at midday and don’t seem to fade away until midday on Tuesday. He was feeling himself all the previous week, working on the moves that the Judgment Day had taught him. He’d even asked Danika to look back on older WWE footage to see if there was a move he might look good doing, a move that he might be able to call his own. Lainey had settled in, happy to be with Danika full time, and had taken to calling Dominik papaíto like Rosa and Nico did. She’d moved to calling Danika momma like the twins did. 

It helped that this venue was like a second home to most of the Superstars - Tampa Bay, Florida was where the training center was, Creative, Talent and pretty much the whole brain of the megamachine that was World Wrestling Entertainment. Tonight Danika was watching from ringside again, Angie was staying with Nico and Rosa - and Lainey was going to her first big event as Dominik Mysterios eldest daughter (his mom was going to lose her mind, honestly). Dominik and Rey were on the card tonight, for the second match, going against Damian and Finn once again. He was starting to see a trend, honestly. All he knew tonight was he was supposed to tell the Judgment Day he’d join them in an attempt to save his father. That wasn’t the biggest thing on his mind, however, they were headed toward SummerSlam, and he had enough nervous energy about that to sink the Titanic without the iceberg helping.

Everytime the camera swept the fans behind the announce table, Dominik who was in the back watching the discussion between Becky and Bianca - he thought they were both amazing wrestlers and actresses, really - looked for Danika and Lainey. They were both wearing old school shirts that featured Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero. Dominik was pretty sure that they had belonged to Rey and him back in the day, considering how big they were on both girls, Lainey had practically been wearing hers like a dress, while Danika was using the oversized stretch of the shirt to hide her baby bump. Another thing Dominik had to worry about, he didn’t like her being near the barrier while this pregnant. 

Rey next to him was bouncing on his feet a little, happy that Aalyah and Murphy were meeting up with them for lunch the next day - which worked well for Dominik, he had plans tonight with the enemy. He snickered in his head at the truth of the statement - Rey did think Priest and Balor were a problem, admittedly one created by Edge, but Rey felt like it was his job to finish what his best friend started. Dominik wasn’t sure if Edge and Rey had always been friends, but Adam had been around his whole life, and was a good Uncle - but he wasn’t Eddie, as far as Dominik knew, no one had the same relationship with his father as Eddie had. Which brought him back to the fact that he always wondered what Eddie would think about him, about who he was becoming. Eddie, whose relationship with Dominik was complicated in so many ways, and the murky waters were never going to be completely gone there. The boos from the television reminded him where he was and what he was doing.

“¿Qué es este silencio?” Rey asked, softly.

“Just thinking about Eddie.” Dominik admitted, and then regretted it because Rey immediately kissed his fist and pressed his fingers to the heavens. “If he’d be proud of me or not.” He explained, and watched a bit of confusion wash over Rey’s face, before the mask of neutrality would be gone, “I know you are proud of me, but…” He trailed off, “Would he be proud of me?”

“Dominik, he would be.” Rey promised. “We both had such dreams for you.” Rey explained, “Dreams together.”

The promo with the Street Profits made Dominik pay special attention, he wondered what it would be like to have a hype man. He supposed he was Rey’s hype man, honestly. Always in his corner, always supporting him, even with the tension between them. Which had sort of always been there since before Aalyah and Buddy, since before he had his up and down roller coaster with Seth Rollins. Even as he watched the KO Show start, he wondered if he’d ever been the dream Eddie and Rey had for him - the pair legends he didn’t think he’d ever really be able to touch. Sometimes he wanted to disappear, his anxiety was sending him toward that sort of a spiral when his pocket vibrated, he pulled his phone out.

From: bebé mamá >> you got this tonight, even if you don’t, Lainey está tan emocionada, te amamos papaíto.

He smiled at his phone, he was glad that Lainey was excited, and grinned at the adoration and love he could feel from the text message. He and Danika had set Lainey down to tell her that he was going to be working with Abuelo, but that more than likely he and Abuelo would lose the match, but he wouldn’t be really hurt, and it was all pretend. Lainey hadn’t looked like she believed him. The sounds of the Judgment Day’s music starting had goosebumps erupting across his flesh. The backstage segment with Seth Rollins gave him and Rey time to pull off their over-layers. Danika’s red hair would be his focal point tonight, he wanted nothing more than to crawl under the covers with her and their kids and be done with tonight already, anxiety seemed to settle in the pit of his stomach. 

“Rise.” Dominik felt something twinge against his heart when Damian’s fierce growl emanated across the arena. “Rise for a Prince, Rise for a Punisher, Rise for The Judgment Day!” The crowd booed more than they cheered, “Last week we chose not to injure Dominik Mysterio.” Call him sick in the head, but he loved how Damian said his name, full of nuances that even his father sometimes lost, “Because we believe he is going to make the right decision.” He already had, long term, “And join us. In fact we guarantee tonight Dominik will join the Judgment Day.“ Oh, so they got that memo too - the one where he was going to ‘attempt’ to join only to save his father, “Dominik, we’ve seen the look in your eyes, We know you're just waiting to drop your father.” The words rang true, a bitter taste left in Dominik’s mouth, “Well, do it.” The crowd booed the loudest, “Stop letting him hold you back.” Honestly, were Danika and Damian comparing notes at this point, “He is stifling your potential, let us remind you what happened the last time some legend tried to stifle us. Roll the footage.”

Man they really liked the torment they’d caused Edge. Rhea looked beautiful in that clip, he had to admit, Dominik frowned as he thought about the woman, since she was currently out with an injury. Once she came back he wondered how fucked up she would make the ‘join us’ pleas. Finn’s voice held a level of command that even Dominik found charming, “I can watch that video over and over and over and over again.” Dominik heard Rey’s music go up, and that little nagging monster in the back of his head reminded him that they didn’t have a separate entrance as a tag-team, one that was just theirs. It grated on his nerves, unsettled him, even more, as he and Rey prepared to make their way out to the ring. In the ring Damian and Finn shared a look, before turning their attention toward the megascreen. Dominik had to be the dotting son, again, a role he was so good at faking it was painful. Rey shouted at him, with exuberance, promising the win, but Dominik knew as well as he did that they weren’t going to win, not tonight, maybe not for several matches. His dad and ‘Taker had worked out a plan with Adam, and he wasn’t allowed to know most of it, Rey’s reassurances that ‘everything will go back to normal’ after they were done with the Judgment Day didn’t help him.

Danika and Lainey were at the barrier, smiling when Rey and Dominik made it down, Rey pushed his forehead against Lainey’s, even as Dominik risked brushing his palm against Danika’s waiting hand, she winked at him, and something inside of him wished the cameras caught it. Wished someone would question Rey Mysterio about the red haired girl that was always with the Mysterio family. The match started in the way these things always do with Damian and Finn - unfair. Dominik winced as Damian punched Rey mid-air, it looked painful. Internally Dominik wondered if Priest would teach him the jumping leapfrog elbow smash he’d just done to Rey, not that he got to think about it long, Priest was destroying Rey in the ring. The first two count wasn’t all that surprising, Damian lacked the speed that Rey could operate at. Dominik continued to look concerned, every now and then he’d chance a glance at Danika and Lainey, the five year old had her hands over her mouth and big green eyes locked on Abuelo. Maybe they shouldn’t bring the kids to these things? He paced distractedly, watching his dad speed the pace back up again, Damian was powerful and strong - but with Rey pushing the pace, it was hard for him to keep up. 

Finn was on the apron, so Dominik yanked him down, just in time for Finn to counter, sending Dominik into the barrier, then Rey knocked Finn back into Dom, who steadied him, hoping the camera had missed how gratefully Finn had tapped his thigh. They both remained out of the camera angle for a while, just watching Damian and Rey, the Razor’s Edge from Priest ended the match, but that didn’t stop Finn or Damian from introducing chairs to the ring.  “Dominik, I told you, you're joining the Judgment Day tonight.” Damian paced around the ring, while Finn watched, they put Rey on one of the chairs, the man looked a bit like a frog stuck on his back. “Or we take his head off.” Oh shit this was the moment, the play he was supposed to make. Well, fuck, Danika was going to have a field day with this. Finn flung himself upward to jump down on Rey’s shoulders and the chair, a second chair in hand, Finn landed three kicks to Rey’s chest, just as Damian started to talk again, “I guess…” He trailed off as Dominik finally slid back into the ring. Drama and build up.

“STOP, STOP, PLEASE!” Dominik didn’t have a microphone but he needed to be loud and be heard. “I’ll join, just stop.” He belted it a little less loud. Danika was going to have so many questions, later.

“What was that?” Priest mocked, and seriously Dominik wondered if this dude got off on being some sort of sadist in the ring, but the adorable derpy big brother figure out of the ring. 

“I’ll do it, I’ll join.” Dominik was positioned over Rey, protecting him, hands out placatingly, and when had he become one of his father’s props. The thought left him feeling hollow even as he continued to act like the good son he apparently wasn’t.

“What’s that?” Finn asked, chair dangling dangerously from his hand, no microphone needed to carry his sadistic smile. Eyebrows raised, he looked like a real prince, looming over him as he guarded his dad.

“Just stop, and I’ll join.” Was apparently the right thing to say because Finn grabbed his outstretched hand and pulled him to his feet, between Damian and Finn he felt more like a child being scolded by his parents. Finn yanked him up by his hoodie, holding him in a way that promised violence. They don’t believe me, hell I don’t believe me, I wouldn’t join them to protect Rey, not really. 

Damian gripped his other shoulder, sliding his hand to his neck, and tightening a hold there, “Why don’t you tell the world what you just said.” Okay, no longer scolded parents, he was in a monumentally stupid spot, and the pair of them were predators with their prey ready for the kill, he’d fucked up when he agreed (when Rey had agreed) to allow this in the match.

Dominik had always had a bit of a rebellious streak, his mom and Vickie blamed it on Eddie Guerrero, as Damian pushed the microphone toward his mouth, Dominik gripped his wrist, hanging on for dear life - with them this close, with them on watch by the whole universe, Damian’s cues were tiny, Finn’s body language was the only thing letting him know their hate wasn’t really aimed at him, but more for his recent bout of protectiveness over his father. “Just stop.” Dominik growled into the mic, he tightened his grip on Damian’s wrist, and felt the man’s hold on his neck squeeze reassuringly twice, while Finn loosened the choking hold he had on Dominik’s hoodie, they weren’t really trying to hurt him, they wanted him, but they didn’t want him out like they had wanted Edge out. It was a comforting thought, he supposed, even if his ass was about to be handed to him, “I’ll join the Judgement Day.”

Damian moved the microphone away with a smile, Dominik let his hand drop, eyes trailing the taller man, while Finn continued to hold him in what fans would think was a punishing choke, Damian squeezed his shoulder twice again, as if telling him good job, kid before laughing into the mich, he took a step away, now almost an arm's length away, but still anchoring Dominik in place, while Finn turned to look at the main camera, oh shit, Lainey was going to witness him getting destroyed, on live television. Fuck. Damian used his hold on Dominik to balance himself enough to curbstomp Rey’s shoulder, before he stalked back, “He said he’d join, hear that, now he wants to join.” He was speaking to Finn, the Irishman had that same murderous grin back on his face, Dominik glanced at Damian, watching for a cue, as the hand on his shoulder squeezed again, “Hey Dom,” They were sort of rocking him back and forth between them, gleeful, but their eyes were not hard like when they attacked Edge. Damian’s face turned serious, “It doesn’t work that way.”

Dominik felt the anxiety drop low in his stomach, yeah this was going to suck. He should have known it was going to come from Finn, considering Damain was holding his gaze, the chair to his middle damn near cut him in half, there was no way to avoid that, even if the chairs were made of a softer metal. He dropped to his knees, just in time for Finn to bring the chair down over his back, stinging him, he raised up in pain, before throwing himself into a roll out of the ring. Finn moved to bring the chair down on Rey again, but his father also rolled out of the way, as if he’d been laying there listening the whole time - and Dominik supposed he had been, a prop in the story sort of. Dominik and Rey were both down on either side of the ring while Damian and Finn were celebrating in the center of it, victorious bastards once more. Dominik had hit the barrier, and whilst laying there he caught sight of the non-descript security human that led Danika backstage every Monday night, tonight was no different, except Lainey was hiding her face in Danika’s hair, and crying hard. 

It felt like a walk of shame, him carrying Rey back up the ramp in the wake of the Judgment Day, his father was fuming at the thought that Dominik would so easily agree to turn, even if it was to save him. Dominik just wanted to comfort Lainey, who he’d often visited with Danika, she’d always asked him to be her daddy, and now he was, but he didn’t want her to think he was injured badly. As soon as they were behind the screen, he dropped Rey, who found his feet like the cat he was, he pulled his phone out and texted Danika.

To: bebé mamá >> Let Lainey know I’m ok, should be back to you soon, seeing if we are doing any promo. 

They had to cut a promo, apparently, that would be aired later in the evening. The pair standing by the lovers, holding their ‘injuries’ were framed with Dominik in the front for once, and he got to talk first, “Finn, Damian, did you actually think I would ever join the Judgment Day?” He really hated these scripted things, “Honestly I may have failed your so-called test, but at the end of the day, I lived up to the Mysterio name, and the Judgment Day doesn't know a thing about the Mysterios.” He pointed between himself and his father. He only half-ass knew what the promo was about, apparently Damian and Finn were cutting their own in a few minutes, which would air before this one.

Rey shook his head as he looked at the camera, “You guys think you're the first ones to threaten the Mysterios?” That seemed like a bit of a rhetorical question, but Rey played it well, “Hell, you ain’t even the first ones to try and tear up this family and you sure as hell won’t be the first to fail on trying to do so.” Was that a vague mention of Eddie? Probably, Rey loved to bring little reminders of Eddie Guerrero everywhere, keeping his legend alive, “Check this out, next week at Madison Square Garden, I’m going to celebrate twenty years in the WWE. Dom and I are going to cap out that celebration by excitedly showing you,” Rey chuckled, “The Judgment Day, what it means to be a Mysterio.” Dominik nodded as he rocked alongside his father, itching to move - itching to run away, “Orale. Ariba. Mi rasa.” 

Dominik kept his eyes trained on the camera, while Rey turned into his side, looking up at Dominik, then the camera was gone, and they could finally go to medical. As they finally started walking away, Dominik asked the question he had wanted to ask earlier in the day, but hadn’t found a good window, “Next Monday is your twenty year celebration.” Dominik offered to his father, “Danika and the kids can be a part of that, right?” Rey just gazed at him for a moment before nodding his head slowly, “Hey, that was what I was supposed to do, right, in the ring? The whole scripted promo thing is still weird to me..”

“Dominik, it sounded like you wanted to join them.” Rey offered, as they walked toward their dressing room, “Like you really wanted to be with them, I know Hunter is planning your heel, but I… I’ve asked him not to do the Judgment Day. I don't think that’s where you need to go, it would end your ability to ever be the true good guy again.” He counseled.

“You went to Hunter?” Dominik felt his anger spike, “To make a decision about me?”

“It’s for the best.” Rey patted his chest.

“The best for you or for me? Are you worried I’ll be like Eddie, better at being a Rudos than a Técnicos?” Dominik snapped at him, then lowered his voice, “Yo soy el hijo de mi padre, pero ¿quién es mi padre? Esa es la pregunta, ¿verdad?” He hated throwing that up, throwing up the fact that he was his fathers son, before demanding Rey tell him who his father really was. 

Rey stepped away like he’d been burned, there had been a storyline, once, and then there had been question after question - and then his mother had told him a little nugget that had stuck with him, all kayfabe has its start in truth, baby. Vickie wouldn’t tell him the truth, Angie wouldn’t tell him the truth, they both told him he should hear it from Rey - but he didn’t want to hear it from Rey, he just wanted answers. “I’ll get a hotel tonight, perhaps you just need Danika to sort you out.” Dominik was sure there was an insult in there somewhere, but he couldn’t find it. He watched his father’s retreating form, even as he pushed back against the nearest wall, and tried to talk himself through what was no doubt a panic attack.

“Breathe with me, Dom.” The voice belonged to Finn, who was pressing his forehead to Dominik’s, and had pushed them into a shadowy alcove, “Come on, man, match my breathing.” It took a few tries for Dominik to be able to do that, to be able to breathe along with Finn, exhaustion sweeping in as the tears slowed and he was finally able to breath, his chest no longer constricting with pain as if an elephant was sitting on it, “There we go, baby.” Finn didn’t say it condescendingly, he said it fondly, with affection that had Dominik sinking forward into his hold, pressing his tear soaked and sweat covered face into Finn’s neck, just breathing in the sweat and leather scent that hung to the Irishman over his cologne. “I have you, baby.” Finn promised, “Me wife gets these attacks, too.” He explained, even as he huddled closer, grounding Dominik in his warmth, “Don’t know what happened ‘twen ya and Mysterio, but know it must have been bad, baby, he barely spoke on his way past Hunter, and us shooting our promo.” Finn explained, which was rare because everyone talked to Hunter, he was their boss, and their friend, and fellow superstar. 

Dominik wasn’t sure how long they stood there, but slowly he came back to himself, Finn was still rubbing his hands up and down Dominik’s back, and offering him soft words, Dominik slowly pulled back, “Damian said he took Danika and the wee one back to the bus, mentioned you're mum took off once Danika was there, muttering about needing to check on Rey. Want me to take you to the bus?” Dominik nodded, his head hitting Finn’s collarbone, “Alright, let me go, baby, need to see if anyone is watching.” He peaked out of the dark corridor, seeing no one and no cameras, he tugged Dominik out of their hiding spot, and guided him toward the side exit, the pair cut across the parking lot in the darkness, to the lot that housed the travel buses, Damian opened the door, still in his ring gear, and helped Finn shuffle Dominik in.

“Mi corazón, tuviste un ataque de pánico, déjame mirarte.” Danika brushed past Damian and Finn to check him out, Dominik pushed her back shaking his head, before looking past her at Lainey.

“Come here, mi corazón.” Lainey darted into his arms, he hauled her up to his chest, “I’m ok, Luis and Fergal wouldn’t really hurt me.” He explained, as he motioned first to Damian then to Finn, “They are my friends, Lainey baby, we were just acting.”

“Ok, papaíto.” She whispered and hugged him again, tightly. 

He set her on her feet, “Danika do you mind if we change clothes?” She stepped aside, Nico and Rosa were both in a playpen by the television watching Spongebob, Danika ushered Lainey over to join them, while she moved to start making something for them to eat. “Do you two need to grab your clothes?”

“I brought them when I came with Danika.” Damian offered, “Sorry you missed your mom, hermano, she said it was a good match but she wanted to check on Rey.” Dominik led them to the large master bedroom on the second floor of the bus, so they could change clothes. They changed in near silence, from ring gear to work out gear, with Damian looking over his back to make sure the chair hadn’t broken any skin. As a group they moved back down to find Danika had made tacos, and poured lemonade for them all. “Thank you.” Damian offered as he took a seat at the table.

“You are welcome, Luis.” She patted his shoulder, “Are we going to talk about it?” She looked around the group, “About what brought on your panic attack,” So Dominik told them, in stop-starts, about how Rey had gone to Hunter about his future without even asking him. “Dom, you have to talk to Mr. Levesque.” She reached for his hand, and threaded her hand in his, “You have to live your life Dominik, he can’t make every decision for you, mi amor.” 

“She’s right.” Finn gazed at Danika, “You're, uh, friend, is right.”

Dominik groaned, “She’s the mother of my children, we aren’t dating, never have, platonic soulmates.”

“Well, that wasn’t what I expected, but, it makes more sense than my theory, which was that she belonged to Rey or Eddie Guerrero, somehow…” Finn trailed off, “Congratulations on this baby,” He motioned at her waist, “And uh, you're older three are adorable.” He looked at Damian as if looking for help, “You knew didn’t you?”

“I sort of asked Danika out on a date in Texas.” Damian offered, “We had a nice lunch…”

“And we have plans tomorrow.” Danika said softly, then looked at Finn, “Fergal, I’d like to ask you about two former moves of yours… Devitt's End and Shingata Prince's Throne.” The man’s eyes widened, “Could those be modified for Dom to use when he joins the Judgment Day?” 

“She’s like a superpower, goodness.” Finn hummed, he looked ready to talk about those moves when a knock sounded on the bus door. “Are we expecting anyone?”

“No.” Danika smoothed down her t-shirt, and headed for the door, “Oh, Mr. Levesque,” she stepped back up the stairs, “Welcome to our humble slice of heaven.”

“Ms. Wesson, you look radiant as ever. I’m looking for Dominik.” He paused, “Well, this is a turn of events I was not expecting, Mr. Martinez, Mr. Devitt.” Finn and Damian both waved, “Interesting.” He hummed, “I’d like a word with you, Dominik, come take a walk with me.” Dominik scurried out of his seat, Danika nodded her head, she’d put his food up for him, “Now.” Hunter ordered, already headed out the door, Dominik glanced at the other two men before jogging to catch up with his boss, “Your father came to me earlier, questioning Creative’s plan for you, for the future.”

“He told me after the fact, he doesn’t think Judgment Day is the right fit for me.” Dominik admitted.

“And what do you think, son?” Hunter asked, softly, “I’ve watched you grow up, you're practically Vince’s grandchildren, you, Danika, and Aalyah. I want to help you reach your full potential, Vince wants you to reach your full potential.” He continued, “I don’t think you can do that as a tag-team with your father right now. You need to be marketable as your own, or you need to be in a faction that you can shine with.”

“If I need to turn heel, Hunter, I’d prefer it be with Judgment Day. Those two are both helping me work on techniques in the ring that my dad wasn’t comfortable with-”

“Dominik, I have something for you.” Hunter offered, “Something that might help you make the choice I think you need to make for your career, I know how much you love your father. But I think you need to have all the facts, everything he’s probably never told you.” Hunter let out a slow exhale, “Stephanie found this…” He pulled a folded up envelope from his suit pocket, “When she was cleaning out some of Vince’s office. If you want Judgment Day, you’ve got it, but you need to come to Creative so we can figure out how this is going to work. Rhea is going to be back soon, and I think you should consider her the game changer.” 

“Thank you, Hunter.” Dominik watched as a limo approached from seemingly out of nowhere, “I won’t let you down.” Dominik promised as the driver opened his door, stepped out, and moved to open Hunter’s door.

“I know you won’t, Dom.” With that Hunter was shutting the door and his driver was back behind the wheel.

Dominik looked down at the folded up envelope in his hands, he wasn’t ready for whatever this was, not tonight, he’d have Danika put it up for him for the night, and he’d look at it in the morning. He made his way back to the bus, “All sorted.” He promised as he climbed in, “Want to go work out?” He asked the other two men, who were looking at him perplexed, “Are you ok here, Danika?” He handed her the envelope.

She gazed down at it, one eyebrow raised, “I’m fine, I’ll put this in your room.” 

“Thank you.” He hauled her into a hug and kissed her temple, “I talked it out with Hunter.” He offered the other two men, as he moved to lead them off the bus, “Let’s get started, ok?” The pair shared a look, and hurried out after him, Dominik watched as Damian stopped long enough to press a kiss to Danika’s hand, he didn’t hear the soft words they whispered to each other, but he understood them just the same. Damian liked Danika, and Danika liked him back, regardless of what was going to happen with WWE, they had a vibe, and he was going to support the shit out of that if it killed him. 

Danika

She’s not nosey by nature but the envelope is old. The fold is creased and it looked like it had been done with force. Luis and her were not going out until around eleven that morning so she had time to read the contents and put them back she supposed during the twins' nap. Hesitation almost held her back, but she had always taken care of Dominik. Whatever this was, it was an old secret. And she considered it her job to spare him unnecessary heartbreak. Unfolding it with careful hands the front threw her - it was confidential mail, the kind that spoke of records requested from government agencies. The recipient was Eduardo Guerrero. 

She had a feeling this was about that stupid custody match in 2005. 

With a tremble in her hands she slowly pulled the paperwork out. They’d taken Eddie’s blood, Vickie’s blood, Angie’s blood, and Rey’s blood before they took Dominik’s. Then they tested it. The report was on the last page, a piece of history otherwise forgotten. Dominik was biologically Eddie Guerrero's son with Angie. Heart in her throat she folded everything back up, and wondered just how many people had seen the report. She’d be willing to bet Rey had, and probably Eddie. Maybe Vickie, but definitely Vince who had decided to hide the truth. Keep it a secret. She quickly tucked it away, and hurried out of Dominik’s room. Biting her bottom lip she wondered how long she’d have to sit on that secret herself. While the fact changed nothing for her it did change everything for Dom and their children, Lainey included (since Dom and Danika had been granted joint custody of the girl, and it had allowed Lainey to take Dominik’s actual last name: Gutiérrez). 

It would impact the legacy Dominik was set to inherit, biologically the Guerrero legacy, but he was raised a Mysterio. Maybe he could take both mantels - be the new Latino Heat and honor them both. But that didn’t seem like Rey’s plan. 

When Damian picked her up later, again in a rental SUV, she was still feeling slightly off. “You ok, Corazón bonito?”

“Yeah. Just a lot of things on my mind.” She admitted. “What are we doing today?” She asked eagerly.  

“I am not a fan of animals in captivity so the zoo and aquarium are out. Might we go to Glazer Children’s Museum?” Damian guided them onto the road from the arena. “Or we can go to the Sunken Garden.”

“I am dying to see you at the children’s museum. You legitimately look like a gothic prince of darkness right now.” His jeans were black, his shirt was an Ozzy tour shirt, he had on one of his leather vests, his hair was braided in two braids for once, and his boots were clunky with chains on them. Danika meanwhile was in a bright yellow maxi dress and gladiator sandals. The twins were in aqua and peach respectively, their shorts solid colors with matching shirts that had taco prints on them. Both also had adorable gray fisherman hats on with their nicknames embroidered on the front of them. 

“You look like happiness in a dress.” He admitted sheepishly. She burst with giggles, and he couldn’t help but smile, she hadn’t put much stock or worry into their age gap, but with her at twenty-three and Damian at thirty-nine there was a sixteen year age difference which would no doubt make waves if anyone ever publicly linked them. “I’m not sure why you keep saying yes to these dates, but thank you.”

“I like you, Luis, or I wouldn’t come out with you.” She shot him a bright smile, “Want me to put the address in the GPS?” He nodded as went to work, “Are you gonna turn your music on, I know you like metal, just don’t go too loud.” So he turned his Spotify on and tried not to overthink things when she tangled her fingers in his over the shifter. She caught the look of reverence he sent their hands, before deciding someday she was going to ask him who the hell had hurt him so badly. But not today, not yet. Not when they were so new, so tentative.

The Children’s Museum was large, square and angular, predominantly white with yellow hued accents. The front of the building was framed with palm trees. It looked massive, and Danika was so excited about spending the day there. They parked, and helped all three of the little ones out, Damian surprised Danika by grabbing the diaper bag. They stopped in at guest services to buy their tickets - the teenage girl behind the counter looked up at Damian with a bit of fear in her eyes, “Don’t mind Luis.” Danika offered, as she patted the man's arm, “He’s just an adult sized goth.” 

“Rude.” He muttered, even as with tickets in hand they headed for the first exhibit - well he walked at a slower pace than normal as they had released all three little ones, Lainey holding both Nico and Rosa’s hands the trio sort of daring ahead Danika moved at a subdued pace, her hand in Damian’s much to the near-giant’s amazement. “So, do they need more supervision?”

Danika snickered, “You can see much further than me, Lurch.” 

“Alright, I’ll keep my eyes on the babies, you just hold on to me.”

“Like I was planning on letting you go, again.” She smarted back, as he trailed along after the kids, headed straight for a room called Tugboat Tots. It looked like the twins were having a blast but Lainey wasn’t having as much fun, Danika watched as she tugged on Damian’s sleeve, the tall man bent down and she whispered in his ear, “Go ahead, you two can head to the Kidsport, we will probably be here for a bit.” She admitted with a smile, she watched a mask of confusion twirl over Damian’s face, “Luis, I trust you with Lainey, go ahead.” The little girl took his large hand and tugged. 

Danika grinned as the pair disappeared into the next room. “Momma!” She grinned as Rosa called her, and hurried over to play in the little water maze that had toy tug boats set up on it. She helped Nico set up his own boat, she grinned as they splashed and splashed, playing happily as they talked to themselves, and splashed at her with water, she craftily snapped a few pictures, not sure how long they played before Damian and Lainey came back, then headed up the stairs to find the Farm Play area. This time Lainey led the charge, giggling as she pulled the younger too along with her. Damian after a moment's hesitation joined in the play, helping them ‘plant’ a garden, while Danika gathered eggs. Damian’s smile was less murderous and more adoring as they moved through the upstairs - playing in the Firehouse (Damian was tall enough to helped the twins slide down the fire pole), they went grocery shopping in the Publix room, the kids getting all the food they normally wouldn’t and tossing it into the buggy, Danika was the one that enjoyed the ice cream parlor, making elaborate scoops and creations for the other four to pretend eat, they skipped the Central Bank - Danika was pretty sure the kids were never going to have to worry about money. 

They treated all the sick animals in the Vet Clinic, Danika had to convince Nico not to steal multiple stuffed dogs - apparently Dominik wasn’t the only one in the family who wanted a pet dog, Damian led the kids in the Engineer’s Workshop, they took apart what amounted to several mock planes and one boat, before they were reassembling them, Danika couldn’t stop laughing in the puppet theater room, because Damian did different voices for every single puppet, the kids got a laugh out of it as he staged an elaborate play using three puppets. They didn’t spend much time in the Pizza Place or the Global Café but they adored the time in Water’s Journey, playing like they were in the clouds. They somehow missed the St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital exhibit, but managed to spend almost two hours in the Art Smart, where Danika and Damian drew various pictures that the three kids then attempted to color, all of which Danika was taking home. They found their way back to the Tugboat room, this time Lainey although yawning opted to stay with the twins, so Damian posted up against the doorway, while Danika leaned on his chest, his left arm around her collarbones, rubbing a slow circle with his thumb over her shoulder, while his fingers curled around her right upper arm, holding her steady.

“You like me, huh?” He whispered.

“I like you.” She confirmed, “Wasn’t sure about you in the start.” She flicked her gaze up to him, “But now I am.”

The man bowed his head with a soft smile, “We should get going, I’m pretty sure that man on the second floor recognized me.” He whispered, as the man from the Farm area was hurrying down the steps. Damian let her go, and turned to face him, “Can I help you?” Danika moved to gather up the kids.

“Sorry, man.” The man offered, “I just, you're Punishment Martinez, right? Damian Priest?” Damian nodded his head, she could tell he was angry from the way he was holding his shoulders, “I’m sorry to bother you dude, but could I get a picture with you?” He looked hopeful as he said it. 

“Here, let me take the picture.” Danika offered, rubbing her hand across Damian’s arm, the man didn’t seem to notice as he handed his phone off to Danika, “Lainey stay with the little ones, ok, keep playing.” The little girl gave her a thumbs up, “Do you want to take it over here, where there are no kids in the picture.” She suggested as she ushered them towards a blank wall that sat next to Guest Services, both men moved to lean against it, Damian did his archer pose and the fan looked exuberant, she took a couple, then handed the man his phone back, and ducked around the pair of them to check on the kids. She couldn’t hear the conversation they were having but when Damian came back, he looked irritated still.

“We should go, I asked him to wait to post it, but…” He trailed off, as he hurried the twins into his arms, Danika grabbed the diaper bag and Lainey’s hand, trailing along behind him, “I’m sorry, Danika.”

“Luis, this isn’t your fault, people recognize Dominik all the time.” She offered, “I’m just good at not being noticeable, it’s sort of a defining factor.” She shrugged her shoulders, “Let’s find some place to eat, yeah?” 

“Got somewhere in mind?” Damian asked, curiously as they made their way across the parking lot and secured the twins in the car seat, Lainey climbing into the middle of the backseat and fastening her seat belt around her booster by herself. Danika hurried into her passenger seat, while Damian climbed behind the wheel.

“As a matter of fact, I do.” Danika reached for the GPS, and started keying in the address, “It is outside of Tampa though, ever been to Dinosaur world?” Damian shook his head, softly. “Luis you are going to like this.” 

“What if I’m afraid of Dinosaurs?” Damian asked, teasingly.

“Then our relationship is not going to work, because I love dinosaurs.” She teased right back, a smile on her features, “We could compromise I suppose, but Dinosaurs and lunch, and I know the people who own both thanks to Rey.” She hummed, pleased, “So we shouldn’t have any problems with your adoring fan base.” 

The ride out to Keel Farms isn’t that awful, as far as Danika could tell the man liked their back and forth when it came to planning. Five Finger Death Punch radio from Spotify danced around them, in the speakers, Danika wouldn’t admit it, but she was starting to like the rattle and heavy rock. When they arrived Danika grinned as Damian took it all in, it was a Farm, she’d been honest about that much, but it was so much more. There were places for the kids to pet animals, a tour of the farm, tons of alcohol to be had - even as she led them into the restaurant area, she could tell they all wanted to pet the pigs. 

“We are going to take a tour, right?” Damian asked as he trailed behind her.

“Of course, Luis.” She hummed, as they were seated off to the side, she said a quick hello to the owners, as they came over to greet her, before their waitress appeared, “Can we start with Gator Bites? I know these three want sweet tea, and I’d like ice water, Luis, what would you like to drink?” 

Damian seemed to think about it, “Do you mind driving us back to Tampa?” Danika shook her head, “Alright, can I try Pirate Punch?” The waitress wrote it all down, then disappeared. “Where are the dinosaurs?”

“Down the road a bit, be patient, Luis.” She winked at him, “Lainey do you want a hamburger or a grilled cheese? Nico and Rosa are going to get chicken nuggets.”

“Can I have a ‘burger, momma?” Lainey asked, softly.

“Of course, you can, and do you want dessert?” She asked, evenly. “Cheesecake or Chocolate cake?”

“Chocolate, momma,” Lainey giggled like she thought it was funny, Danika winked at her.

“Good choice, pequeña mamá.” Damian offered to the little girl who grinned up at him, so bright and full of love that it nearly broke Danika’s heart, she’d never been that happy at Lainey’s age. “I think I want the Shrimp Tacos,” He hummed, “What are you going to have?”

Danika was flicking through the menu, “Probably the Berry Salad, with very light Strawberry Riesling.” She hummed, “So, Luis, tell me how you ended up in the WWE.”

He blinked, “You were around for some of it. And I know you did your research.”

“Oh, I did, but you don’t write your own wikipedia page do you? I know you were born in New York, but raised in Dorado, Puerto Rico. You learned Japanese karate that I can’t pronounce from your father, and you won two national championships with those skills. You returned to America, and basically learned English on the fly like I learned Spanish on the fly.” She gave him a serious look, “You were trained by the Monster Factory, I know you are a melophile, you collect hand-to-hand weapons, and you’ve held many championships.”

He blinked at her, “Dios, you do research.”

“Still didn’t answer the question.” She hummed.

“I like power, and recognition.” He admitted, “I didn’t like being in my dad's shadow.” He added, “Sound familiar?” She gave him a pointed look, “I wanted to be on the world's stage, I wanted to bring respect to mi raza.” He looked at her a bit sheepishly.

She gave him a bright smile, “That seems familiar, yes.” She winked as the appetizer of gator bites was brought out, the kids liked them when they were able to get them, she wasn’t too fond of them, she watched as Damian tried them for the first time, “No offense, you are beyond sweet to me, why is there no familia?” Something painful danced over his face, and she wanted to take the question back, “Eso fue grosero, perdóname, no debería haber preguntado.”

“No, it wasn’t rude, uh, I just don’t do… this.” He motioned between them, “I was almost married once.”

“Oh.” She gave him a soft look, “I’m sorry I brought up bad memories, Luis.”

“The thing is, they aren’t bad, Danika.” He hummed, as he reached for her, this time, his voice smooth in a way that made her understand the country song Tennessee Whiskey. “She died before we could get married, she was pregnant, they don’t have an answer for what happened, she just… faded away, the baby too.” He looked down at the hardwood table, and visibly flinched when Lainey, who had demanded to sit next to him, wrapped around his arm not held by Danika, “It’s… I brought the mood down.”

“Thank you for telling me.” Danika offered, quickly, “Lainey wants to hug you better.” She whispered, as Damian looked down to see Lainey squeezing his arm as tight as she could, wrapped around him like a little snake coiled, he immediately shifted the little girl so she was in his lap, and pressed his face into her red hair, just breathing in for a moment, “I must be terrifying to you.”

“No, no.” He said quickly, shaking his head, “Not terrifying.” He squeezed her hand where he still had a hold of her, “A much different woman than Tessa, yes, but… good different.” He decided on it after a long moment. 

She shot him a real smile, full of white teeth and warmth, “Luis,” She squeezed his hand, “Thank you.”

After that Lainey climbed out of his lap, but it took some coaxing, and a lot of promises that he’d play with her later in the day. They ate and laughed, and Danika let Damian into the parts of her life she held precious, the pictures of her children that she never posted, her fear that Nico was going to have hearing problems when he got older because of his near-constant ear infections on his left side, how Rosa was ahead of him in milestones, how Lainey had been the first baby she or Dominik had ever felt connected to, how they’d fought to have Lainey with them for three years, the pair even considering getting married if only to be able to legally adopt her. He told her of Japan and Puerto Rico, of traveling Europe and working with all the different brands he had been with, he gushed over meeting Metal Gods, and then nearly lost his mind when she told him that she knew the members of Metallica because of some work she’d done for one of their wives. They trade funny stories, of their youth, and then more serious ones : how Danika grew up in a broken home, and at eleven was saved by Dominik who was thirteen, how Damian had to learn a new language and a new country all while his father was upset with him for giving up his mixed martial arts for something he considered trivial and fake. 

After, they met the pigs and goats, the twins got diaper changes and were once again encouraged to go potty in the big kid potties, before Danika plugged the address into the GPS for Dinosaur world, and adjusted the seat for her much smaller body, before pulling them out of the parking lot and toward the next attraction. They spent the rest of their afternoon covering the parks large acreage, seeing two hundred life size dinosaurs, playing in the interactive boneyard, and playing on the skeletal playground, they went through the Prehistoric museum where they watched animatronic dinosaurs, could play with prehistoric dinosaur eggs, raptor claws, and spent a ridiculous amount of money in the gift shop. Lainey had a tendency to snag Damian’s larger hand and haul him around the exhibits, while Danika walked at a much slower place, holding both of the twins hands, and smiling over the fact that Damian had slung the diaper bag over his shoulder. 

It was almost eight when she got a text from Dominik, asking her if she and the kids were still out, Damian was driving them back to Tampa, all three of the kids in the back sleep were fast asleep, honestly Danika was almost asleep herself, feet tucked under her, shoes kicked off, Damian’s thin jacket tossed over her, she wasn’t sure the music playing on the radio - but she liked it, liked the large hand of Damian’s on her thigh, squeezing every now and then. She typed out a quick message on her phone, then put it back in the cup holder in the middle console. 

To: mi corazón >> we are otw to Tampa from Plant City, should be there by nine 

“Dominik?” Damian asked, softly.

“Yeah, he was just worried about when we were getting back.” She said around a yawn, “I think he’s ready to get on the road, again. More than likely we are going to spend time adventuring around New York, when are you getting to the city?”

“I’m flying out tonight, after I check out of the hotel.” Damian offered, “Mysterio going by bus?”

“We’ve met before.”

That might be true but currently Damian Priest was hard pressed to remember. She was young, that much he could tell, younger than Ripley and he thought of her as a kid, still. So what was it about Danika Wesson? It wasn’t her innocent beauty. He’d never gone for that type of girl. It wasn’t the red hair he had never been a fan of - yet for the last month of his life he’d caught his eyes following her form whenever they were in the same space. He’d at first chalked it up to curiosity. His mind was running a loop of why is the girl with the Mysterios?

“Dame!” Finn shoved his shoulder, “Pay attention.” 

Damian turned to look at the man, they were supposed to be working out, “Sorry, Finny.” He muttered.

Finn gave him a strange look, “Where are you at today, mate?”

“Just… tired.” He shrugged, he tended to avoid lying to Finn or Rhea, but right now he didn’t want to talk about the little red head, “I think I’m going to go back to the hotel.” He said with a shrug, before heading for the locker room. He showered and got dressed in a haze, still thinking about the redhead. He headed out to his car, and back to the hotel. The younger woman was still on his mind.

“We’ve met before.”

He crashed into the bed, face first. She’d traveled with Danny Cage, so why couldn’t he place her. Groaning in frustration he twisted around on his bed, and looked up at the ceiling, nothing immediately came to mind, groaning again he closed his eyes. The thing that caught his attention about her in the first place was her laugh. Maybe the laugh would jolt his memories, so he focused on it, on what he remembered of it. And - that was when it clicked.

They were in Pittsburg, Keke. That was what they called her back then. She was an awkward seventeen year old, who hung around Danny Cage, she did their photo ops and handled their entrance videos and music. She’d been a pale dream, who kept her hair up in messy space buns usually with ink pens or chopsticks stuck in them, she’d worn glasses back then, if he remembered correctly. It had been Luka’s idea to bring the kid along to the dive bar, and she didn’t need to have a fake ID - they were big guys and imposing, so when they told the bouncer she was old enough, he didn’t even question it.

“This is a bad idea.” She had insisted, even when Luka had bought her her first martini, she’d drank it slowly over the night, laughing as they all made fools of themselves. Seventeen. That’s what had stuck out the most with her. He could remember that now, she was a kid, and Danny kept reminding all of them she was hands off and his friend's daughter. That night, three drinks had been three too many, and she’d been drunk. He’d tossed her over his shoulder and carried her back to the hotel, he could remember through his intoxicated haze how he’d taken her shoes off, tucked her in and plugged her phone in. He’d left her in there, and stumbled back to his room.

Keke. He wondered if that had been a choice she made, because he was one hundred percent sure that wasn’t her legitimate name. Glaring at the ceiling - this was horrible. She had been maybe seventeen, maybe eighteen, and he’d thought of her as a child, normally she’d been… annoying. But not in a bad way, in a why is she the most adult person in any room when she’s not even eighteen. He clenched his jaw, what exactly was she doing with the Mysterios?

Her dad is one of my best friends. Danny Cage had been on about that, often. Was she Rey Mysterio’s daughter? She didn’t look like it. At least not biologically. Her presence around Dominik, with those little ones trailing her, and the fact she was pregnant? Maybe she was with Dominik. Damain didn’t like how that felt, internally, not that he would ever admit it. He didn’t like the thought of the little girl - young woman, he corrected - kissing anyone. Shaking his head in frustration - he’d talked to her once, now he was going to have to figure out how to talk to her again, how to get her alone.

Summer Slam in 2020 might have been the proverbial start to Dominik Mysterio’s career in the WWE, but it had also been the end of his semi-normal private life. His high school sweetheart had left him shortly after because his time on the road was ‘too much’ too hard for her, and for a brief stint he’d fallen into sleeping with his best friend, Danika. He and Danika shared a set of twins, named Delarosa Analucia Raquel (they call her Rosa) and Domenico Andrés Felipe (they call him Nico), but they’d kept that largely underwraps for his career. For the first time in months Danika was at a show tonight, with both almost eighteen month olds (wearing noise canceling earphones) in her arms. He picked her out easily in the crowd, from the backroom when the camera spanned the crowd a second and third time, the babies were rocking little Mysterio onesies, with his and Rey’s logo on the chest, if they were facing forward, she was standing with Aalyah and his mom. 

Angie hadn’t been so understanding about him and Danika’s questionable relationship, Danika was almost two years younger than him, and she was probably a little less understanding now, considering Danika was pregnant again. Not that Dominik minded, he liked being a dad. Danika had skipped two grades and the pair had met in middle school, she’d supported him and his dreams from the moment they met, never once had she questioned who his real father was, nor had she asked him about Rey’s legendary matches. She was one of the few people who saw him for him. Angie had been livid, when the twins were born, that Danika and Dominik refused to get married. On the flip of that, his mother was not foaming at the mouth for Aalyah and Buddy Matthews (known as Buddy Murphy or just Murphy), there was an age gap, and they’d had a rollercoaster relationship since they got together in 2020 (although their relationship had started as kayfabe). They’d broken up for a couple of months over the summer, and Buddy had been linked to Rhea Ripley, briefly before he and Aalyah reconciled. 

Tonight - well, it was rumored to be the start of legitimate hell for him. It’s the fourth of July, they had barely made it through one of the biggest pay per views of the year - Money in the Bank, and he was already on edge because he hated that they dropped the titles after only sixty some days as champions, it was a little irritating, but as far as creative cared to explain, it was the beginning of a massive storyline for him. He caught the sweet smile of Danika on the big screen. He loved his best friend, and positively adored her. She might be the only person who openly accepted Aalyah’s odd relationship with Murphy, although he was pretty sure she’d told him off for leading Rhea on (or something along those lines). Danika wasn’t interested in the WWE or their storylines, or participating, Angie had warned her that sometimes there wasn’t an option.

Last year, he could remember taking the twins to see fireworks in whatever town they were in on the road. Danika is lucky that she can travel with them year round, she’s a tiktoker and an influencer. She’s been beyond careful of sharing too much about the twins with the world - instead she had made it a going mystery. Tonight the twins were at their first real WWE show (Danika had come most of her pregnancy, and had shown up for events a few times after that when Angie or Aalyah could watch the twins). He wasn’t looking forward to facing Judgement Day tonight. He still was a bit confused about how he and Rey had become targets for the Judgement Day, but he chalked it up to the fact that his dad and Edge (Uncle Adam) were such close legends. 

“You ok, Dom?” Rey asked from where they were watching the matches in the backroom - Austin Theory had just interrupted Bobby Lashley, and honestly Dominik sort of wanted to see them wail on each other. He gazed at his dad, watched as Rey looked around the room, obviously checking for anyone who might be bilingual before he switched languages, “Tu madre tiene buenas intenciones cuando se trata de Danika, sabes que los ama a ambos. Tal vez deberías pensar en lo que significa tener otro hijo.”

“I know she means well, and we have thought about it, right now neither of us are even remotely interested in casarse solo para apoyar la tradición.” He looked around to make sure no one had heard him, “And a third isn’t going to break the bank account, currently she makes more money than me.” Dominik murmured unbothered, he wasn’t going to marry Danika just because tradition strongly suggested it, he wasn’t going to marry her just because his mom wanted him to. Sure, there was probably honor in doing that, but Danika was more than vocal on the fact that she wanted to marry for love not obligation. Dominik watched as his father seemed to think that over, “Mamá no está exigiendo que Aalyah y Buddy se casen.” 

“That is different, I think your mom still expects him to dip.” Rey hummed, as Austin started yelling about something in the ring, his right and youth or something. Dominik pulled his phone free of his shorts pocket, he tended to wear shorts and a t-shirt over his ring gear until they were ready to go out. “What are you doing?”

“Checking on Danika.” He offered, slowly, because Damian and Finn had entered the room flanked by Rhea who wasn’t medically cleared to be back, and had arrived with street clothes on - she looked adorable in the skinny jeans and oversized black t-shirt. With no cameras on the trio they looked over friendly with one another, joking and laughing. He caught Rhea’s gaze, the woman sent him a wink, he snickered a little bit to himself. They had to hurry out of the room for an interview, so Dominik pushed his phone away, and scurried out of his overshorts. 

“Gentlemen, do you have a response to the inflammatory comments made last week by Finn Balor?”

Dominik should really work on learning who the backstage interviewer are, his phone vibrated in his pocket, as Rey started to take the question, Dominik stopped him, remembering how soft Damian and Finn had looked together without the camera watching them, “Jefe, I got this, what Finn said last week was not only disgraceful but it was very disrespectful.” He knew he was getting stronger on the mic, even Danika had commented on how much more confident he seemed, “And to be honest, there's no one in this business that I would rather learn from than mi jefe.”

Rey hauled him down to kiss his cheek, it made Dominik grin, he loved making his dad proud - even with the looming heel turn all he wanted was to make his dad proud. Rey spoke clearly into the mic then, “I’m not one to brag, but Dominik and I were the first father and son duo to become WWE Tag Team Champions.” That was a feat that no one else would ever be able to take from them, it filled Dominik with pride, and he knew Danika had made a whole scrapbook dedicated to their short reign as champions, “I must be doing something right, as far as tonight goes, Megan,” Oh, so that was her name, Dominik filled that information away for later, “It's been 10 years since I’ve been here in my hometown, San Diego.” The crowd went wild, “This is Dominik’s first match ever here in San Diego.” Dominik couldn’t help but bounce and dance a little in excitement, “Tonight, just because it’s our house, es nuestra casa y nuestra raza, we’re gonna teach the Judgement Day how to respect Los Mysterios in the 619!”

He doesn’t get to check his messages as Rey’s entrance music blares over them - Danika had asked him once, why he didn’t have his own entrance, or why they didn’t have a specific entrance for their tag team but he hadn’t had an answer, and hadn’t been brave enough to ask Rey. The moment they enter with the crowd going crazy is always his favorite thing, it’s the only place he gets to do anything that’s just his, as always Rey hops onto his back, to get a ride halfway down the ring. Dominik meet’s Danika’s  gaze as he climbs onto the rings edge, she shoots him a wink, while both his kids call out for him, he can read their little lips, papaíto. No sooner than the Judgement Day music starts with the lights dim are Damian and Finn on them, Dominik’s head somehow bounces off the bottom lip of the announce table, and all he can see is Danika’s worried face, Aalyah had taken Rosa so Danika could balance Nico easier. He made it back to his feet, and back to the ring during what he assumes must be a commercial break with how slow the action flowed in the minutes that preceded the attack.

Dominik really hates how hard Finn hits, but past that he sort of hates how happy they are about it. Damian was at least kinder to him, guiding him as they locked up - Rey had told him when they first started gaining traction, that when you worked a crowd, you wanted to do it with someone who communicated with you. Damian was always sharing his moves and goals with Dominik, which was much different than the way Rey and he interacted. Finn and Rey are both fast movers, quick and agile, Dominik is still awkward, but he has height, and a different sort of gracefulness. When he went for the 619 Damian caught him, and tossed him into the barrier just in front of Danika, who had handed Nico off to Angie, and bent over the edge of the barrier, the camera was off him, when she hissed, “Levántate Dom, Nico está llorando por ti, y Rosa está ocultando su rostro. Levántate, ahora.”

Grunting he did what she asked, and hurried back to his feet, and back into the fray, sparing a quick glance at his son - eighteen months and worried about him - before he managed to tag in Rey again. His father was in his element, they called him the giant killer , and Damian was one hundred percent a giant. The way to ‘manage’ Rey Mysterio was to keep him grounded, Dominik wasn’t as much of a high flier as his father, but was getting better at it, he was even better at setting his father up for elaborate moves. The kick to the head from Damian didn’t make him feel any better, he hated the thought of leaving Rey alone with them - the Judgement Day weren’t a tag team, and yet they moved and operated like they were in perfect synch. The double 619 felt amazing, he couldn’t wait to reassure his kids later, he realized belatedly that the twins probably didn't recognize their abuelo. Dominik snickered as Rey pulled a move from Eddie Guerrero’s playbook, pretending Finn had hit him with the chair that Damian had pushed into the ring. 

“Latino heat!” Dominik and Rey shimmied together, even as Rey sent a kiss to the heavens, and then kissed Dominik’s cheek, the pair grinning. They had a backstage promo thing to do with the Judgement Day attacking them before the others could join them, Dominik figured it was probably for the best that his kids not see him get roughed up again, and was secretly hoping that security were already leading them through the secret paths back to the backstage area. 

Rey had told him, earlier, that the Judgement Day was going to be sore losers about it - Dominik hadn’t known exactly what to expect, but another hard hit hadn’t been it. It should have been, everything with the Judgement Day was painful to a point. They headed down the hallway just as Dominik caught sight of Finn’s bandana. He and Rey were talking about the match, as the pair came at them from behind, Damian instantly targeting him, while Finn went after Rey. Damian at least had the foresight to tell him to guard his head, since he was throwing him toward the concrete. Referees came running, before Damian could remove Rey’s mask, then Damian said something in Spanish that Dominik didn’t catch. Together they limped toward their dressing room to wait on their familia to join them. 

They wouldn’t have to wait long for Angie, Aalyah, and Danika to make their way backstage to the Mysterio dressing room, to hang out for the rest of the evening. Dominik dropped onto one of the chairs, after he rolled his shoulder. Rey opened the door, when a series of knocks sounded. Danika was the first one into the room, with Rosa and Nico on her hips, the pair were quick to climb into Dominik’s lap, as Danika pressed a quick kiss to his forehead. Buddy (who couldn’t be seen in the arena unless he was competing, and he wasn’t currently signed to the RAW roster) and Aalyah trailed in next, as Angie hugged Rey and kissed his cheeks. “What did you think, mi familia.”

“Que te dieron una paliza en el.” Danika huffed, Buddy snickered as did Aalyah. 

“I did not get my ass kicked.” Dominik shot her a playful look.

“Damian looked like he was working well with you.” Rey hummed, “You two traded some words, yes?”

“Yeah, he was like Konnan, guiding the moves so we both looked good, Finn not so much.” Dominik offered.

“Finn is the Irish one?” Danika asked as she sat down on the metal bench, across from Dominik, “He seemed particularly pissed off tonight.” She glanced at Rey, “Did you forget to smile or something?” 

Rey rolled his eyes, “It's just his nature, hija.” Dominik would always be thankful of how much his parents had accepted and integrated Danika into their lives, since basically middle school. She didn’t come from the best of home situations, but she had made the best of herself, and more often than not she helped Dominik keep his calm head. “Was the match good?”

“It looked great, Pops.” Buddy offered as he sank down not far from Danika, the pair of them friends in their own way, even though she had told him off (loudly) for whatever had happened with Rhea (which still wasn’t clear to Dominik or his parents). “Seriously, it looked fantastic.” He added, “Dominik, your moves are getting smoother, you look so confident.”

Danika

Dominik had apparently driven himself to the arena since they were in San Diego, so she’d offered to ride back with him - Aalyah and Buddy were flying out to the next NXT show, so they took an Uber, Angie and Rey offered to take Rosa and Nico on back to the family house if Dominik and Danika would pick up some groceries on the way home. “Do you have a light?” Dominik asked as they headed out the back entrance of the arena, he had his cigarettes - not that Rey needed to know he was smoking currently - but he didn’t have a lighter, Danika fished one out of her clutch and lit it for him. “Thanks, querido.” He kissed her cheek, “Want to wait for me here, I’ll jog over and get the car, so you don’t have to do anymore hectic walking.” He suggested, as he pressed the palm of his hand against her midsection, she was due in early September. 

“Sure, querido.” She shot back at him, unamused, he was supposed to be working on quitting smoking, she’d quit after all. He wrapped her up in a thin jacket, before he hurried off in a jog, she’d been leaning against the wall for all of five minutes when a tall dark figure approached from the darkened side of the building. Footsteps echoing off the pavement in an almost menacing symphony. 

“Got a light?” He asked, the deep baritone of his voice rushing down her spine like warm caramel.

“You know, asking a pregnant woman is probably a dick move.” She snarked back, eyeing the man who went by Damian Priest, “Luis Martínez, right?” She ventured, as she once more dug the lighter out of her clutch, “And it is beyond creepy that you hide in the shadows stalking people.”

“I was curious, querido.” He parroted the word to her, patronizingly. “You clearly belong to the Mysterios, but I don’t recognize you.” That made her snort, “So I wanted to know more.”

“No, you had an assumption.” She countered, irritated by the man’s bold statement that he didn’t recognize her - she supposed it was fair, it felt like a lifetime to her too, “You assumed that I was dating Dominik, or worse you assumed that I was Rey’s love child, I have heard both so many times it's frankly annoying.” The man before her looked her up and down, “Oh, I know how it looks, but Dom and I are best friends.” She offered, “Have been since middle school.” 

“You are not what I expected.” Damian admitted, “Want to sit down?” He motioned to the steps, hauling his hoodie over his head, and stretching it out for her to sit on, “Don’t want you to get dirty, and you are wrong on both accounts.” He added as she moved to sit, he sank down next to her, his long legs reaching three steps down, comfortably, to bend at his knees. “I heard you, at the barrier.” He took another drag, “You called those babies Dominik’s, which to me means you aren’t his girlfriend, you're his secret.”

“Legally, I can’t agree or disagree with you.” She hummed, “But I can tell you that you're barking up a dangerous tree even asking, and it wouldn’t be me coming after you.” She watched as he flicked his gaze over her again, clearly thinking about it. “Dom says you're a good one, you work with him in the ring, call the moves, help him.” She flicked her gaze over his long form, “Thank you.”

 “What do you mean by that?” He asked, softly.

“I’ve watched him and Rey workout, Rey just… doesn’t tell him things. The ebb and flow thing, you know?” He nodded his head, “You gave him ebb and he flowed with you. He needs someone to teach him that isn’t so…” She paused, “I shouldn’t have said any of that to you.” She admitted, “Look, Martinez you're smart, you’ll figure it out the more you target Dom, but leave me and those kids out of it, I refuse to allow them to be used like Rey and Eddie used Dom, when he was eight.” The anger and aggression in her voice made the tall man in leather shrink away slightly, “My children are not going to be some kayfabe storyline.”

“Hm.” He mused.

“We’ve met before.” She offered him, as she looked over to gaze him up and down, “Four, almost five years ago, when I worked for Danny Cage.” His eyes widened as he looked her over again, “It’s easy to forget the face of a little girl, huh?” She found herself teasing, his face had slimmed up, and his body had gotten more muscular, but his smile and his eyes were still the same in her opinion, the same as the man who’d knocked and Englishman out in Tokyo for getting too handsy with her when she was eighteen and touring with Ring of Honor on Danny Cage’s orders, when she was still cutting her teeth in the Influencer business, when she was still impressionable, and wanted to marry someone who could protect her and adored her like Rey did for Angie. Before she had kids, before she became the Mysterio no one talked about. Damian Martinez was Luis Martinez was Damian Priest, and his eyes still pinned her down in a way that made her feel alive and uncomfortable, but now she recognized it for what it was. Hunger. She wanted this man to always look at her, hell even back then when she was eighteen she’d wanted his attention, she just didn’t know how to explain it.

Lights flickered into view, “You're ride?” He hummed, eyes still tracking her, like he could pin down specific memories, but those had been dark times for him, even with him winning - she could remember how often women and booze had been his retreat, how often she’d been the one packing his luggage in a hurry while they were rushing to get him together and on the next plane, she could remember doing his hair, when he’d managed to run off one too many hairdressers with his violent and at times largely Spanish rants. She’d been the one to clean his cuts more than once, and she’d been the one to stitch his ring gear up. She wondered if he could remember how even with her slight fear of him, she’d never bowed away when he’d asked her for something, yet he’d never given her anything in return. She’d begged him to let her interview him, he’d broken the window of the hotel in response. She’d begged him to just take a picture with her, her phone had to be replaced because he’d tossed it out the window of the bus. He’d tormented her back then, but she’d been a child in his eyes, and largely an insolent one she’d be willing to bet - because Cage always told her to stay away from him, yet she was always the first to volunteer to help him. 

She nodded, then stood, she moved to pull his hoodie up but only caught sight of his retreating form slinking back into the shadows. She looked down at the SAMCRO hoodie, rolling her eyes as she wrapped it around her, maybe Dominik could return it - Luis Martinez was a giant, especially compared to her tiny stature. Dominik hurried to open the door for her, she climbed in, just as he gazed at the hoodie, “Isn’t that Priest’s?”

“Yeah, he kept me company while you were getting the car.” She offered.

“Really?” Dominik shut the door, and rounded the front, “He was nice, right, I don’t need to… like, call him out?”

“I think he’d break you if you tried.” Danika smarted back, “He was asking questions.”

“About us?” Dominik could read the apprehension she supposed.

“About us.” She confirmed, “But he backed off, I think he and I have an understanding.” She offered, as she cuddled into the hoodie she had draped around herself, “Do you think you can manage to return this without it getting awkward or caught on camera?” 

“Should be able to, do you have the list for Mami’s house?” Danika shot him a look, “Of course you do, are you sure about going on the road with me until August? I know how much you hate traveling while pregnant.” He felt her take his hand on the gear shift. 

“Dom, we are familia, even if we aren’t dating. Rosa and Nico love you so much, and right now they can be on the road with you without school getting in the way.” She offered, “Plus I can work from anywhere, and I don’t have familia except for you and yours.” She squeezed his hand, “And I know you're excited about the rental bus instead of flying. Even Rey is stoked.” That was because they were going to spend all this time traveling together before his big scheduled heel turn, not that Danika was supposed to know that. “What store are we going to?” She asked, curiously.

“Uh, probably Wal-Mart, that seems the easiest and maybe no one will notice me.” He shrugged.