The Return of Class - Bree Lancaster THOTF 2026

[HardyGirl]

OOC: Ok so. My dumbass was feeling kind crap on deadline day and I fell asleep and missed finishing my promo. Typical me, yes? LOL
But, here is the CD I submitted. My partial promo will be turned into something else. This is being posted on the boards because I have not tinkered with Dreamweaver and my site since fixing my computer from that virus. BUT SOON!

Hope you enjoy. Oh and Fizz..... you're welcome
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{{Friday, May 8

Harvey, LA

Bree & Josh’s house}}

 
 
“Okay, Babygirl, Momma’s getting it.”
Zara is fussing me from her high chair in the kitchen. It’s almost 5PM and she wants her dinner now. I’m actually almost done with everyone’s dinner, two plates with grilled chicken cut up into tiny bite sized pieces, with steamed baby carrots, and two larger plates with whole grilled chicken breast fillet’s, with baby carrots mixed with broccoli. None of the offspring have a grown enough palate to tolerate the green stuff yet.
 
I hear little feet running behind me, and turn. A beautiful little face with big brown eyes looks up at me. I had momentarily forgotten that Heath isn’t here. His birthday was last week, Dom came to town for the small party… then took Heath with him to visit for a week. My big boy is four now, and this time next year he won’t be able to just pop over to Los Angeles any time Dada feels like it, because he will be in school. So I didn’t mind at all.
“Momma!”
Jalyn calling me and tugging my shirt makes me giggle. I will never not love the fact she calls me Momma.
“Yes, princess?”
“Daddy said go see.” She is only a few months younger than Heath, and they both speak well for their age.
“Dinner is almost ready, you tell him to come see!” I say, smiling.
“No no. He said… see news.”
 
Just then, I hear Josh from the living room. “Love? Jalyn get to you?”
Dammitt. I hate when I’m called to see the news. It’s never anything good.
“Coming!”
I grab Zara from her seat – she’d try to climb out if I left her alone for thirty seconds – and go to the living room. Jalyn follows me. Walking in, Josh is on his feet, and the TV is on.
“Okay, what’s the big—”
On the screen is Dom’s face. It’s a mug shot. I realize the program is paused. Gotta love streaming live TV.
 
“What the fuck?!” I have long since stopped trying to watch my language around the babies. They will just have to learn the difference between regular words and adult words.
Josh reaches over to me to take Zara. “Come see Daddy, Babygirl.” I give him a look. “I don’t want you holding a child when you see this.”
“Oh my god. How stupid was he?”
Josh just points to the TV with the remote, and presses play.
 
“—Teller, just this afternoon got into an altercation on Santa Monica Boulevard… with a paparazzo.”
The news goes back to the anchor, a long-time newscaster in New Orleans and trustworthy (I’ve met her a few times), Meg Gatto.
“According to witnesses, Teller parked his Lexus in front of a restaurant, to meet a friend for lunch. His car is well known in the area, and the cameras showed up quickly. Witnesses say after Teller got out, he opened the back driver’s side door to unbuckle and get his four-year-old son out of the car.”
 
I feel my blood pressure rise, and Josh’s hand on my shoulder.
 
“What happened next was caught on camera by an on-looker’s phone. Viewer discretion is advised.”
They cut to the shaky footage, but it’s clearly Dom’s car, and Dom’s back, and then… Heath’s face. There are four or five vultures (as I like to call them) around, two of them entirely too close, like they were trying to get a good shot of Heath. It’s hard to hear through the chatter, so the news helpfully provides captions when Dom speaks.
“Hey, back up, you don’t need to be this close to my kid.”
The vulture smirks and just snaps picture.
“Don’t make me ask you again!” Dom steps closer, away from the door and towards the man. Heath can no longer be seen.
“What are you gonna fu**in do, huh? Nothing!”
I close my eyes a moment, already knowing how this is going to end. But seeing is different than knowing. I make myself watch.
“Is that what you think?”
“Yeah, it is!” Instead of taking another shot, the vulture uses one hand to push Dom backwards, hard enough that he stumbles into the car door. He says nothing, just recovers his footing and shoves the guy back, harder, and he falls. The camera hits the pavement and breaks. The other vulture who was too close steps up.
“Look what ya did, he was just—”
“Shut the f**k up!” And then the swing came. The video momentarily blurs to hide the actual contact, and the vulture drops. The crowd gets quiet… and I hear my son crying.
 
I see red.
 
The video stops and the news cuts back to Meg Gatto.
“Shortly following this incident, West Hollywood Police arrived, and after speaking with everyone involved, took the two paparazzo and Teller into custody. Police waited until Teller was able to get someone to care for his son before being taken away.”
The other anchor chimes in, a young man who’s new and I can’t remember his name.
“I gotta take Teller’s side on this one, Meg. The man’s just out with his kid for lunch, you gotta let celebrities alone with their family.”
“Can’t say I disagree, but he is known for his temper, going back several years. When--”
 
The video pauses. I turn to Josh, still seeing red. He’s holding Zara with one hand, and the other still on my arm, but when I look at him, he takes a step back.
“Bree…”
“What? What is it, Josh? Am I supposed to just stand here calmly while my son’s so-called father got himself fucking arrested for assault IN FRONT OF MY SON?!”
My head feels twice its size but inside the same skull. Zara turns her head into Josh’s shoulder. I know screaming isn’t good for either of the babies but my rationality is gone.
“No. Of course not. But… just hear me out here… maybe the guy deserved it?”
I scoff hard. “Well of course he deserved it, don’t be ridiculous! But Dom isn’t new to this, okay? He’s been in that damn industry for longer than I’ve known him, he knows what the media can and will do with anything they can run with for attention and money! HE KNOWS BETTER, JOSH!”
Josh takes another step back, and I see Zara staring to fuss. Jalyn appears behind Josh’s legs, looking up at me warily. Her face calms me, slightly. I take a deep breath.
“But you know what’s really getting to me, more than anything else? NO ONE CALLED ME! My son is staying with gods-only-know who while—”
Just then, my phone rings. It’s on the side table. I look over and see the lit-up screen say Dom’s name. I laugh sarcastically.
“Right on time, but five minutes late.” I reach for my phone, but Josh stops me.
“Do you think you should get that right now?”
“Oh I think there’s no better time for me to talk to him!” Josh puts his hand up in surrender. I grab my phone.
 
“What exactly do you have to say for yourself?!”
“Shit… I didn’t beat the news…..”
“I think you’ve beat enough things today, don’t you?”
“Look…. I know it’s bad, okay? You can yell at me later. I need--”
Ahaha. No.
“I DON’T GIVE A FLYING FUCK WHAT YOU NEED!! You punched a man to the ground, and got arrested…. IN FRONT OF MY SON!” Yes, my son. “Where is he? Do you even know?!”
“Bree…. For fucks sake, of course I know. Lisa picked him up before the police took me in.”
I sigh hard. Lisa, his agent. She and I had words around the time Dom and I broke up and I am not her biggest fan, but I do know she can be trusted with Heath.
“Okay. Okay, that’s good. Someone he knows, and… but… I just…. What the fuck, Dom?”
“I know. I tried to get the bail over with before the news, I think they stalled on purpose, by the way. Anything to further drag me--”
“I don’t really care about your PR problems. I care about Heath. And I am coming to get him.” The perks of owning your own jet. Yes I still have it. It hasn’t got much use since I left wrestling, but it’s been kept up.
“I assumed you would be. I should be home in an hour or so, I can get him all packed up tonight and tomorrow--”
“Absolutely not. I will be in the air as soon as Pete can get clearance.” I look over and Josh and see he’s on the phone. He sees me look and gives me a smile and a wink. He’s calling Pete. Good lord I love this man.
Dom sighs. He really should have known better. “Yeah. Okay fine. Just let me know when you touch down, yeah?”
“I might.”
 
With that I end the call. Dom knows better than to call me back. I toss my phone onto the couch, then squat to Jalyn’s level.
“Hey princess…. I’m sorry I was loud. It’s nothing you did, okay?” She nods at me, and I can see her relaxing. “I was just very upset. But I’m okay now. Are we still friends?” I hold my hand out to her. She smiles and nods, then instead of taking my hand, steps closer to hug me. I wrap my arms around her. “Thank you, princess.”
“Okay Momma. You’re okay.” Her little hand pats my back, like I do to her when she’s upset. My heart….
 
“Bree?” I look up at Josh. “Pete says two hours.”
“Think we can get these ones ready by then?”
“If you think I’m taking these two girls anywhere near that man right now, you’re insane.”
“What, are you staying--”
“No. Call Amy.”
“Right. Sorry, my head isn’t exactly functioning at full power.”
“Understandable.”
I turn back to Jalyn. “Do you want to stay with Aunt Amy tonight?”
“Aunt Amy?”
“Yes, Daddy and I are gonna go get Heath from his dad’s.”
“Zee?”
“She’ll go with you too.” This girl loves her baby sister.
“Okay!” Jalyn gets up and runs down the hall, I assume to the playroom.
 
I get to my feet, and in about three seconds I made another decision.
“Babe, can you call Amy and explain? I need to call Ed.”
“Your lawyer? You’re not actually gonna help--”
“Are you kidding? No! I want full custody on paper.”

 
 

* * * * * * * * * *

 

 

{{Several hours later

West Hollywood}}

 

 
Since I am a good person, I did as I said and texted Dom when my jet landed. He’d sent his driver for us. First of all, I didn’t know he had a driver. Secondly, if he had a driver, why was he driving himself earlier? And finally… I know its just sucking so I won’t scream more and Josh won’t threaten violence. He’s already promised me he won’t though. Heath is here, after all.
 
The hours between me seeing that news report and getting to California gave me time to calm down, and get control of myself. I will not be unruly while picking up my son. He needs one of his parents to be calm and rational, and that will always be me.
 
The driver parks in Dom’s driveway. The house is about the same size as my current one, but a newer build and more expensive materials. I freely admit it’s very nice. The driver, who’s name is Jerry, walks us to the side door. No one uses front doors on houses like this.
“Here you are, just ring the bell. I’ll go bring the car around back.”
“Thank you, Jerry.”
Josh presses the doorbell, one of those ones with a camera. He’s annoyed when holding it down doesn’t make it ring repeatedly.
“Damn new tech ruining everything.”
I snicker at him as the door opens. I make a face.
“Gods, you look like shit.”
“Nice to see you, too.”
“Pleasure is all yours, I’m sure.” Josh deadpans. He never did like Dom, even before he moved to New Orleans and reconnected with me.
 
Dom just rolls his eyes a little and waves us inside. He learned a long time ago to not get testy with Josh’s snide comments. That’s a story for another time. We follow him in, and I hear a TV from another room that I know is a playroom for Heath.
“Is he in there?” I point towards that hall.
“Yeah. He knows you’re coming.”
“How is he?”
Dom shrugs. “Seems fine. Looked at me sideways for a while after I got home, but that passed.”
“You scared the shit out of him.”
“Yes, I’m aware of that. We had a talk. He seemed to understand it was a bad moment and I’m sorry he saw it.”
“We’ll see.” I start walking towards the hall to the playroom, but stop and turn back. “Is Lisa still here?”
“No. She uh… left as soon as I told her you were coming.”
“Of course she did. Just as well.” I kinda wanted to talk to her, ask how Heath acted when she first picked him up. But it doesn’t matter in the bigger picture.
 
I get to the playroom door, it’s open. Heath is sitting in the middle of the floor leaning against an oversized pillow. The TV is playing a Disney movie. I step in a few steps.
“Hey Nugget.”
His head snaps up, then he scrambles to his feet. “Momma!” I squat down just in time for him to collide into me. I can’t help laughing as I grab him in a hug.
“Hey baby boy.”
He pushes away, and looks at me. “You’re here!”
“Yes, I am. Dada said he told you I was coming.”
“He did. But….” Heath looks away, and a little down. “But he was scary today.”
“I know, sweetie. He’s really sorry, did you know that?”
He nods, not looking up. “He said.”
“It’s okay if you’re still upset. It was a lot.”
“Loud. People yelling. The man fell. The pleece came. And…” Instead of finishing, he leans into me again. I wrap my arms around him again.
“I know, baby. I know. But it’s all over, and it’s not gonna happen again. Okay?”
“Promise?” He asks into my shoulder. I sigh. I can’t say yes, because I can’t be sure Dom won’t ever lose his shit again. In fact, I’m quite sure it’s the opposite, a guarantee that he will.
“I promise I will try my best to keep you away from anything like that ever again. How’s that?”
I feel his head nodding against me. “Okay.”
I let him lean on me a few moments more, then gently make him move back so I can look at him. Those blue eyes are something else.
“Are you ready to go home?”
“Yes. Are we going now?”
“We’re going to a hotel tonight, and flying home tomorrow.”
That gets the first smile out of him since he saw me. “Yay!”
I stand up and reach for his hand. “Come on, Josh is with me. Come say hi.”
He grabs my hand. “My sisters?”
We walk out as I answer him. “No, they’re at Aunt Amy’s. It was too late for them to come. You’ll see them soon.”
 
In the living room, Dom is putting Heath’s clothes into his small suitcase. Josh is near the door, he hasn’t moved much from when we walked in. Heath sees him and runs over, and hugs his leg.
“Hey little man.” Josh ruffles his hair.
“Hey!”
I hear a zipper and turn back to see Dom done with the suitcase.
“That’s most of what he came with. There’s a few items with the laundry.”
“No problem.” Heath has clothes and toys that stay here, but if I get my way – and I usually do, let’s be honest here – all of that would be coming back to my place anyway. I grab the suitcase and set it by the door. Now that I have my son back, I don’t mind being a little more civil.
“Thank you for being good about me coming get him. I know you had a few days left.”
“Of course. It’s for the best and I know it. Things are gonna be… chaotic here for the next little while.”
“Right. Well… for what it’s worth, I do hope the whole thing doesn’t hurt you too badly.” That infernal Netflix show that led to us splitting was still going, and from what I could tell from articles and such, Dom’s character is still an asshole. So of course it’s more popular than ever.
“Appreciate that. Lisa already has a half dozen spin ideas.”
“I have no doubt that she does.” Spin is her specialty. The woman plays loose with the truth more than anyone I’ve ever met. And in my line of work… that’s saying a lot. “Anyway, we should get to the hotel. It’s getting late for Heath.”
“Yeah, of course. He would normally be in bed by now, but I let him wait for you.”
“I appreciate that. I will let you know when we are home safe tomorrow.”  Dom nods. “Oh, and… one more thing before we go.” I look back at Josh. He reaches into his jacket inner pocket and pulls out an envelope. He hands it to me, and I immediately hand it to Dom.
“This is a Service notice.”
“What? For what?” He stares at the envelope as if he can’t fathom what I was giving him.
“Custody, of course.”
His hand falls to his side, nearly dropping the envelope. “Bree.”
“Technically I am not supposed to hand you this myself, but I figured you wouldn’t want a sheriff at your door while all of this is going on. There is a waiver in there you can sign that can avoid all of that.”
Dom looks down at the envelope again, then back up at me. Then towards the door where Josh is standing with Heath. I don’t know if many other people would have noticed, but Dom’s eyes changed looking at Josh.
“Don’t you dare try to blame him, he had nothing to do with this. You understand I have to, right? For my own public image.” While that was also true, it was not my primary motivation. When he looks back at me, I can tell he knows that.
“Didn’t think about that.”
“You just didn’t think.”
Shaking the envelope in his hand a little, he nods. “That’s fair, I deserve that. And I guess this, too.” He waves it in the air a little higher. “I’ll send you the waiver back signed.”
“Thank you.”