12-06-2020, 12:28 AM
LONG BEACH HOSPITAL
10. 31. 2020
Blake walks into the hospital room of Kelcey Wallace. He shuts the door behind him.
The last thing he wanted to do was think about how fate brought everyone to this point. It was impossible not to. The Masquerade Party he assumed had been a success. Aside from a brief confrontation with Bree where he called her out on showing up in the wedding dress she wore when they got married a couple years ago, he wanted to believe that one Kelcey Masquerade Party wouldn’t conclude in some form of controversy. Alas it did. She joined him on stage. He wanted to conclude the evening the right way, nothing went right at all, Kelcey passed out in a horrifying display.
A million on one thoughts raced through Blake’s mind. Mostly negative. The doctor was able to ease his mind before he walked into Kelcey’s room to check on how she is doing. Told him that Kelcey would be able to go home in the morning.
Blake takes a seat next to her. Kelcey was still out of it. The important thing is Kelcey is alive and awake. That brought him comfort. He grabs Kelcey’s hand. He pierces lovingly into her eyes. “Can you do me a favor?” Blake asks.
“What is it love?” Kelcey responded.
Blake takes a deep breath. He manages to say, “Don’t scare me like that again?”
Kelcey says with a smile on her face; “I’ll try.”
Her response elicits the first time he smiled while being in the hospital. Blake looks over his shoulder to glance at the door. He couldn’t help counting down how much time he could realistically be in the room with her. She has more than a fair share of supporters outside the room who want to check in on her condition. He clears the thoughts from his head, finds a way to stay focused. “Gave everyone quite a scare. Including Chris. He’s here.”
Kelcey’s eyes widen a little. “He is?” she asks, fully registering what Blake said.
Blake simply nods. “Yep, you know what they say about Superman, always there when Lois Lane is in trouble.”
“Don’t feel that dynamic right now, love.” Kelcey says chuckling a little.
“Please, at your worst you are still the most dynamic, inspirational woman I know. Glad you’re ok. If something worse happened to you tonight--”
Kelcey quickly cuts Blake off. “It didn’t. See. I’m fine.”
“I screwed up.” Blake says cursing himself. “If I had done everything right you wouldn’t be--”
Kelcey squeezes Blake’s hand to force him to stop his train of thought. She says, “Do me a favor, love?”
“Name it.” Blake says.
“Please don’t blame yourself. Can’t control everything.” Kelcey says with a smirk.
Blake knows that Kelcey is right on the money. No matter how many times life reminds him that he can’t control the fates, he always tries his darndest to exert as much control as possible over his surroundings.
“It’s hard not too. We all knew there were certain individuals on the yacht who aren’t your biggest fans. I could have hired extra people to have Sienna and Bree secretly detailed. Don’t know. All this could have been avoided.” Blake pauses, stopping himself from continuing his current train of thought. “But ultimately you’re right, I could have taken all the precautions in the world. We could have still ended up here.” Blake lowers his head trying not to think about the worst case scenario.
“What happened to your face.” Kelcey asks.
He looks back up at Kelcey. He ran his hand over the part of his face that Chris nearly caved in. Blake rolls his eyes, being reminded that this was the second year in a row that Chris assaulted him at Kelcey's Masquerade Party. Taking a deep breath he says,“Don’t worry about it.”
“Did something happen?” Kelcey presses on.
“I plead the 5th.” Blake says sternly. “I don’t want to lie. Please, can we not talk about this? It is not my intention to keep anything away from you. Last thing you need is to be bothered by what happened to my face.”
Kelcey nods. “Alright. I trust your judgement, love.”
“Hearing you say that means more than you’ll ever know.” Blake pats his heart.
He couldn’t help looking over his shoulder again knowing there is a hallway full of people who are waiting to see Kelcey. “There’s nothing more I want than to be in this room with you all night. I’m going to resist the urge to be selfish. Chris wants to see you. So does Peyton. Owen. Everyone who adores you as much as I do. I’m going back out there. One last thing in case I don’t get to see you again tonight.”
Blake drops down to a knee. He takes a moment to steady himself so he doesn’t allow his emotions to get the best of him. “Times like this that remind all of us not to take life for granted. Trying my best not to allow my mind to run away from me. But I can’t help thinking about what if the worst case scenario happened, I would have missed out on the chance to tell you how much your presence in my life truly means. I know it’s pretty obvious. I don’t say it enough. Kelcey, you are the light for a whole bunch of people. Fans. Your closest friends and family. Me. Especially me.”
Blake smiles. “I would hate for the world to lose its light. No offense to David Helms, please don’t tell Regan I said this, he is not the last shadow of hope. It’s you. Kelcey, you have a habit of making everything make sense. Our views of the world differ in certain areas. I’ll always trust you. Then, now, forever. I am glad you are ok. I wish you could come home with me tomorrow when you’re discharged but... not going to happen.” Blake shrugs. “That’s fine. We’ll have plenty of time together on my jet when we head on the Southern Hemisphere leg of the tour.”
Blake stands up. He leans in to give Kelcey a kiss on the forehead. “Goodnight Kelcey.”
Blake goes to walk away.
“Wait--” Kelcey calls out to Blake.
He turns around. Their eyes meet.
“Thanks for hosting the Masquerade party. Means the world to me. The night didn’t end like we both planned. I am proud of the man you strive to be. Know it hasn’t always been easy. I knew when you got away from the wrong influences, you would show the world the man I always knew you could be. Always be mindful of that, Blake. Don’t forget you’re a good man. Don’t let anyone tell you different.”
Blake appreciated Kelcey saying that. Bree did try to get inside Blake’s head trying to convince him otherwise. As long as Kelcey sees he is trying to be better, her world will always be more important. Blake places his hand over his heart. “I won’t let you down, Kelcey.”
“I know. Goodnight, love.” Kelcey smiles.
He opened the door to Kelcey’s room; he walked out. The first person he saw was Chris. He nods to the Father of Kelcey’s son. Lost in his own mind, Blake walked back to the waiting room paying no one else any mind. Sitting down scrolling through his cell phone is Jaxson Sullivan. Blake takes a seat next to his bodyguard. Kelcey is ok. That’s what was important.
==
11/26/2020
Long Beach Marina
Blake Mason’s yacht
Blake didn’t feel overly great about hosting Thanksgiving festivities on his yacht after what happened to Kelcey less than a month ago. Being the miracle worker she is, Kelcey managed to convince Blake not to get rid of the yacht the first chance he got when the Southern Hemisphere leg of the SCW tour concluded. He is grateful to her for talking him down. Kelcey survived. Not only that, she is set to compete on the 6th of December, finally Blake hopes she will do what is necessary to put Sienna down once and for all. If he gets the chance...
... well... he doesn’t want to dwell on that possibility.
Not today of all days.
Nothing overly dramatic happened. Victor stopped by. So did Kelsai. His mom flew into town with Drake’s father. Speaking of Drake he was nowhere in sight. He was likely with Minerva. Didn’t blame Drake for that. He is happy Drake found someone he is comfortable with. Cassie wasn’t present either. A shame? Obviously. Considering the chaos that transpired at Emerge’s final show of Season 3 with Cindy Todd being knocked off her perch, forced to leave town, in effect ending The Unforgiven stranglehold over that company, Blake understood that Cassie wanted to be there for her beloved. Victor. Kelsia. His mom and her plus one. They exited the yacht to partake on their own adventures.
The lone person left to keep Blake any semblance of company is Jaxson Sullivan. Not to protect him from his family. Jaxson has been there for Blake for almost a year now. The former tag team champion is appreciative of everything Jaxson has done for him. As Blake laid on the hammock staring at the stars, the silence gripping the air put him at ease.
“You are blessed to have a good family.” Jaxson acknowledged, breaking the silence.
“More than I deserve, Jax. More than I possibly deserve.” Blake responds.
Blake couldn’t see Jaxson shaking his head. His bodyguard responded, “Should have known you’d say that.”
“Why wouldn’t I? It’s true.” Blake fires back.
“Today is the one day out of the year you could be less hard on yourself.” Jaxson sternly says.
Blake looks to his right to notice Jaxson staring at the stars too. “I haven’t made things easy for them.”
“Be that as it may, they want what’s best for you. I do too. Professionally and personally. Especially personally.” Jaxson looks down at Blake. Most of the time Blake didn’t know one hundred percent what was on Jaxson’s mind. He appreciated the big man’s calm, icey demeanor. Someone needs to be when he feels the compulsion to be impulsive. This time Blake sensed there was something Jaxson had on his mind. The what he had no idea. Adjusting his tie, Jaxson continues. “Tonight needs to be the night, Blake. No more excuses. Time to grab hold of the life you want.”
Blake blinks, knowing exactly what Jaxson is talking about. He gets out of the hammock. He looks Jaxson straight in the eyes. “I tried, Jax. Kelcey passed out on this very yacht before I got the chance. I don’t know, maybe fate is telling me this isn’t meant to be.”
Jaxson tilts her head to the side. “Since when did you leave anything to fate? Or is that another excuse.”
Blake grits his teeth. “I’M AFRAID, OK!” He takes a deep breath to calm himself down. “It’s not a matter of Kelcey not loving me. I’m not blind, I know she does, don’t question that at all. When do I ever win, Jax? The day I found out Chris and Sierra split, you have no idea how paranoid I became. I took that as fate’s way of reminding me that Chris and Kelcey are going to end up together. Why wouldn’t Chris go back to Kelcey? He has to know he screwed up by now. Wouldn’t shock me if the Cannon brothers are conspiring as of this very moment. I can see Scott stepping aside to give Chris a free path to claim Kelcey’s heart again, the last thing that family wants is to see me happy.”
Blake looks down at the ground. Jaxson puts a hand on his shoulder.
“Take a breath. No one is conspiring against you.” Jaxson tries to calm Blake down.
“You don’t know them like I do.” Blake protested. “Chris can’t resist trying to hurt me. He needs the smallest justification possible to--”
“Blake. Don’t. Today is not the day.” Jaxson again tries to stop Blake from continuing the narrative. “Push Chris out of your mind. Tonight could be the moment that changes your life. Forget the past. Focus on the now--” Jaxson hesitates before saying... “-- Kelcey knows how you feel. She has the ring.”
Blake looked up at Jaxson. With a blank expression he asks. “What are you talking about? What ring.”
Jaxson clears his throat. “The day you asked me to hand you the ring box, it would take a blind man not to see that is not what you really wanted. So I asked myself what would Blake Mason do? An idea popped in my head. I remove the ring from the box. Hoping you wouldn’t notice. Lucky for me you didn’t open the box to check if the ring was inside. I forgot what Breakdown it was, that day I approached Kelcey and I handed her the ring. I told her in no uncertain terms you can’t see the ring again until she is ready to be your wife.”
Jaxson pauses allowing Blake to register what he just said. “I haven’t spoken to her since. You two have spent a lot of time together. Became a lot closer. Figured it would be a formality. A lot of craziness has happened since August. Sienna. Giovanni. What happened to Kelcey on the yacht. Circumstances have gotten in the way. One thing being in that hospital showed me is you need to act! Propose to her. Do it quickly. You might lose her. Fate won’t be the blame. You will.”
Blake mediates on everything Jaxson just said. He knows. Patting his friend on the shoulder, Blake says. “Yeah, of course. Now or never.”
“Good. Let me know how it goes.” Jaxson nods.
And with that he turns around to take his leave. Blake watches as Jaxson steps on the pier. As he leaves to enjoy the rest of his evening Blake briefly wonders where; Kelcey Wallace walks past Jaxson.
The former tag team champion called Kelcey earlier in the day to see if she could spend the last bit of Thanksgiving with him. He naturally assumed she would spend the day with Chris and Nathanial. Wouldn’t hold it against her if she said no. He was happy to learn she would join him on the yacht.
Fate can take a backstage as far as Blake is concerned. Time to claim his destiny and fail spectacularly.
.
.
.
Blake and Kelcey spent the majority of their time together on the lower deck of the yacht.
They talked about their respective days.
He shared how the day went with his family.
She went over how the day went with Chris and Nathanial.
Naturally he tensed up a little bit. He did a solid job not allowing his mind to get ahead of him.
Unfortunately he figured she couldn’t spend the night with him. She had to go home sometime.
With his time with her winding to a close he walked her up to the top deck.
Blake grabs Kelcey’s hands, with a smile he says. “Thanks for stopping by, Kelcey. Means a lot”
She nodded. “No need to thank me, love, you are an important part of my life. After the year I’ve had, drove home the point to spend as much time with the people you care about while you have the chance.”
“I couldn’t agree more.” Blake takes a deep breath to settle his nerves. It was as he was waiting for another event beyond his control to prevent him from doing what he needed to do.
He knew it was now or never. Blake finally did what he wanted to do on his yacht on Halloween, he dropped down to one knee. He looked up at Kelcey who came across as cool and collected as usual. He tries his best not to anticipate what is going through her head. He had one job. Fate wasn’t going to stand in the way this time.
Clearing his throat he continues. “Not going to lie, I pictured this moment a lot differently. I don’t have a ring, I mean I did have one. Jaxson made sure the ring found a proper home. Can’t believe you didn’t tell me.”
“I meant too, love. Before Under Attack when Peyton stopped by.” Kelcey said.
Blake nods remembering that day. “Hopefully the advice I gave her proved useful. About time the giver of that advice actually took it.”
He grabs Kelcey’s hand. “Where do I possibly begin? The day you walked into my life Kelcey I knew beyond a shadow of a reasonable doubt that you were the one I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. I have screwed up a lot along the way. The biggest mistake of my life, there are plenty of them, when I made the foolish decision to sleep with Mary. That moment changed my life forever. Robbed us of a life together. I don’t blame you for turning to Chris... part of me feels that we could have worked it out then if I had properly fought for us, it would not have taken this long for us to possibly have a chance to claim the life I believe we both want.”
His heart was dancing rapidly. He breathes in deeply to center himself. “I gave up! For all these years I have been a coward. I wanted to stop your wedding to Chris so damn badly but I didn’t. I believed that is what you wanted deep down. For years I tried to move on, I didn’t give my all to Cameron, to Tatum, to Bree, to Taylor, no matter how much I tried I believed we still had a chance. A small chance. But a chance nonetheless.”
Blake paues to pace himself. There is a lot he needed to say. Had to make sure he got this right. “There is a lot I should have done; I should have been the one to rescue you from that medical facility. Not Scott. I should have been the one to nurse you back to health. Not him. I should be the father of Nathaniel, not Chris. It pained me when you told me you were pregnant. Yes, I was happy for you, I was sad that the father of your son wasn’t me. It should be me.” He allows that admission to linger a little bit before pushing forward. “The more time passes the more I am convinced we should be together. We deserve that chance to see if we can be everything I ever dreamed of. Yes, I know you are with someone, on every level going after a taken woman is wrong, I don’t care anymore. I need to know if there is a chance for us. I don’t want to go halfway. I want to go all the way. Forget the dating process. Forget tradition. Kelcey Wallace what I am trying to say is... will you marry me?”
Kelcey was blown away when he finally said those four words. One thing to know Blake had always intended to get to this point. She does have the ring. An entirely different story to live the moment.
Blake doesn’t give Kelcey a chance to answer immediately. He says, “Don’t feel pressured to answer me tonight. I would love that... depending on the answer.” Blake smirks. “-- I need you to be one hundred percent sure like I am. I don’t doubt you love me, I don’t question that. There is Scott. There is Chris. He still loves you. I guess there will always be part of you that believes he is the love of your life. If he didn’t try to injure me; you two might still be together. None of that is lost on me. I need you to be sure. If you say no, as much as that’ll break my heart, I can rest finally knowing that I tried. That I laid everything out on the table. You know what I want without a shadow of the doubt. Whether you say yes or no, this is closure.”
Blake rises to his feet. He can tell by the expression on Kelcey’s face that she was moved by him laying his heart on the table with no amburigty whatsoever. He pulls Kelcey in, not hesitating to give her a deep soothing kiss. She doesn’t resist, The Perfect Ten goes with the flow. Before things escalate any further he pulls back, he wasn’t sure if things would have gone any further. He didn’t want to possibly take Kelcey to bed like this. He grabs her wrist, he places her hand hand over his heart. His heart is skipping much faster than normal. “I love you, Kelcey. Nothing changes that. Whatever you decide, I respect your wishes.”
Kelcey takes a deep breath. She nods. “No matter what I decide, I’ll always love you.”
“I know.” Blake winks.
“Ok Han Mason...” Kelcey chuckles at the obvious Han Salo reference.
Blake and Kelcey hug one last time.
She steps off the yacht onto the pier. Blake watches her walk away to head home.
He couldn’t believe he just did that. He proposed to Kelcey. He called his shot.
Now the waiting game.
Time for fate to have its day.
[b]... to be continued[/b]
<< PROMO TIME >>
The scene fades into a quiet nearly empty boardroom. There is a long boardroom table smack dab in the center of the huge room. To the right are windows the audience can see through that overlook the city. What truly stands out as the camera zooms in is William Blake Mason clad in a two piece grey suit and sky blue tie sitting at the head of the table. Standing to his left is Jaxson Sullivan not dressed in a suit. Today he is wearing a black muscle shirt, black jeans and black boots. Blake leans back into the leather chair he is sitting on. He shoots the camera an icy cold stare that would send chills down a normal man’s spine.
“Leading into Rise to Greatness I spoke at length about my father telling me every man or woman on this planet needs to find their WHY. We all have goals in life. All of us at one point want to become World Champion. The usual reasons for WHY are to grab a status symbol that validates you to the world (and yourself) that you are the best wrestler on the planet. Some want to become World Champion for the money. Fame. Power. Nothing wrong with any of those reasons. I am not one of those self righteous people to condemn you for why you are doing something. We have had all types of characters in this sport who have accomplished things in their own unique way. Not one size fits all. I can anticipate my opponents and the Twitter mob being quick to remind me this is not a number one contenders battle royal for the World Championship. I know that. It’s for the Adrenaline Championship. A little patience, I’ll arrive to my point in a roundabout way.”
“The reason why I want to win this battle royal to go on to challenge Glory for the SCW Adrenaline Championship comes down to one feeling that has defined my existence in professional wrestling. That feeling is one of regret. Lets rewind the clock, a little over seven years ago at an event called Perfect Destruction, I became the SCW Adrenaline Champion by dethroning everyones favorite public menace Katie Steward. Back then I was driven by extreme pettiness. I was ousted from Perfect World, rightfully so, I was pretty much on my own aside from having The Devil in my ear. Everyone and their mothers mother had counted me out. Wanted to bury me. Said my career was almost done, that I should quit, plus it did help that I wanted to stick it to Katie for humiliating me upon my arrival in SCW... that is neither here nor there.”
“December 1st, 2013 I became a champion. That should have been the proudest moment of my career. First singles championship in SCW. Joy to the world. But predictably my reign lasted fifty six days. What I should have done was enact my rematch clause, chase the championship, take back what was mine.”
“But I didn’t.”
Blake shamefully shakes his head.
“I did what I have been known to do on more than one occasion, I pretended to be above it all. I spat in the face of a championship that should have meant so much to me at that point in my career. My feeling at the time was, I won a championship. I can win another. I did become a singles champion in SCW again... six years later.”
“I regret taking the SCW Adrenaline Championship for granted.”
“I regret spitting on the legacy that men like David Helms are proud to represent. I am willing to bet a good chunk of change he still holds the Adrenaline Championship in high regard.”
“So when Sasha gave me the opportunity to become number one contender I didn’t view it as a step down. I didn’t see it as ‘Hey Blake, here is another shot to become a champion in this company after you failed miserably to advance to challenge Bree for the Interim World Championship.’ No. I view this chance that Sasha gave me as possibly fate nudging me forward in the right direction. And before anyone jumps down my throat getting ready to say... Blake how can you say it is fate that you will become Adrenaline Champion again. To anyone who jumps the gun on that. No. That is not what I am saying at all. I’m thinking maybe, just maybe; this could be the road I was meant to travel. Maybe fate is telling me that there is unfinished business I need to take care of first. I am going to do the work. I am going to try my hardest. I don’t believe I am entitled to victory.”
“And I am not making any future plans, unlike one man in this battle royal.”
Blake rolls his eyes. He places his hands on the boardroom table and leans forward.
“Asher Hayes, you are the favorite. I am man enough to concede that. You accomplished what I couldn’t, you beat Syren. Since then you have been on a major roll, not only as Television Champion, you and Cid are slaying the Tag League. Who else in this battle royal has more momentum than you? Simple. Nobody. If I wasn’t an employee of Supreme Championship Wrestling and someone asked me to place a bet on who would win this Adrenaline Championship #1 contendership battle royal, I wouldn’t hesitate to drop a wad of cash on you winning it all. Moving on to challenge Glory Braddock for the third time, hopefully with no shenanigans. An actual clean finish. Imagine that.”
“Your wild imagination is the problem.”
Blake clears his throat.
“I can understand wanting something. No judgement on my end. BUT when you hop on Twitter and have an open discussion about what the stipulation of your third encounter is going to be before you actually step foot in this battle royal, forgive me... actually don’t, there is nothing for me to apologize for.”
“I found you and Glory’s fantasy booking ultimately disrespectful.”
“And I have been disrespected enough over the past couple of months.”
“Is it because I am not the guy I was when I was running over people.”
“Or breaking into the homes of people who couldn’t defend themselves.”
“Is that the type of guy you are Asher? Blake Mason always remembers. There has always been this underlying tension between us. Our Twitter interactions have rarely been positive. You act like a clown sometimes, telling me I am stuck up or being too emotional, trying to make me out to be the bad guy for not acting like a clown. Somehow me being serious is a bad thing!”
“Deep down are you really overlooking the rest of us that much that you feel comfortable making future plans with the current Adrenaline Champion?”
Blake takes a deep breath. “Should you be confident? Sure. If you aren’t that’s half the battle lost, trust me, I know that all too well. I don’t take too kindly to a match involving me being treated as a formality that you’ll win. You and Glory can hype up a potential third match until you are blue in the face. One day you will have your third match. But if I have anything to say about it Asher that third match will NOT happen on December 20th, 2020; I aim to close out the year the brand new SCW Adrenaline Champion.”
Blake takes a moment to crack his knuckles.
“I am not overlooking the rest of you. Kelsai, I love you. Aaron, I grow to respect you more and more by the day. To the rest of the field. Don’t need to tell me how many people I need to go through to get the job done. This message goes for all of you like it does to Asher. You want this. I NEED this. I need to redeem my first Adrenaline Championship reign. So I am prepared to do what must be done to get the job done.”
Blake looks at Jaxson. He nods to the big man. Jaxson nods back. Blake returns his focus to the camera one last time.
“Whatever it takes to thank you all for coming.”
Blake winks as the scene fades to black.