Post by The Ace on Mar 4, 2021 14:34:54 GMT
It is the early morning after Danger Zone, Jake Conway sat in bed at home as he thumbed out a quick text message:
To Warren:
I’m proud of you, son.
Jake sighed as he puts his phone aside. Looked over at Kathy who was still on the edge of sleep, next to him. They’d made love only a couple of hours ago. He smiled at the still fresh memory. As a family, many of their colleagues looked at The Conways with envy. Assumed they had everything they ever could want, but the one thing they had spent the last few years pining for had yet to be realised.
A son of their own.
Originally, they had plans in early 2020 to finally get around to trying to fulfill that dream, now that their in ring days were officially over, at least from Kathy’s perspective. Jake however, still struggled with being that definitive about the end of his wrestling career, so she’d given him a full year to truly think it over.
A year in which so much happened that made him reprioritise and reconsider much of his life, notably the death of his father-in-law, Robert after a not insignificant and lengthy battle with cancer. Officially the year grace period Kathy had offered ended on January 29th, 2021 - the fifteen year anniversary of the day they’d first met, but Robert’s death last summer meant that she no longer held him to it strictly. It felt wrong, unfair and pointless to do so. Life was too short for ultimately trivial self-imposed deadlines.
Roberto had offered Jake the chance to return both publicly and privately on more than one occasion, but something about it never felt right. As if returning meant he would just be going through the motions and not really wrestling for the love of it anymore. He wasn’t Spike, this wasn’t all he valued in life, a lesson he’d tried to pass on to Warren in Spike’s stead, becoming a sort of surrogate father figure in the young man’s life.
Jake would not fail Warren where Spike so desperately had.
And as part of that promise, Jake realised he could not be a hypocrite. He could not return to the ring if he legitimately felt he had no reason to. Spike could never bring himself to stick to retirement, Jake wanted, and needed to be better than that. Life was too short not to go after what you really wanted.
And what The Conways really wanted was a son.
Not even the allure of a Sacrifice being held on the eighteenth anniversary of his professional debut last month or the fact that High Stakes was going to be held in his home country at the end of this month stirred him to even think about going back out on the road.
Maybe he really was at peace with where he had ended up in this life, finally.
Jake leant across and kissed Kathy gently on the forehead, smiled and then wrapped his arms around her as he snuggled into the sheets, pressed up against her natural warmth. Kathy turned into his embrace and sighed softly, content, her eyes closed still. Jake smiled.
Maybe there really was life after wrestling after all.
Warren being World Champion seemed to reaffirm his decision. His victory had nullified the allure of the bounty on Gilmore’s head. Roberto Verona had gotten what he wanted once more, just like he always did. The business was in safe hands in the future, he was the past.
IWF no longer needed The Ace as much as his family needed Jake Conway.
To Warren:
I’m proud of you, son.
Jake sighed as he puts his phone aside. Looked over at Kathy who was still on the edge of sleep, next to him. They’d made love only a couple of hours ago. He smiled at the still fresh memory. As a family, many of their colleagues looked at The Conways with envy. Assumed they had everything they ever could want, but the one thing they had spent the last few years pining for had yet to be realised.
A son of their own.
Originally, they had plans in early 2020 to finally get around to trying to fulfill that dream, now that their in ring days were officially over, at least from Kathy’s perspective. Jake however, still struggled with being that definitive about the end of his wrestling career, so she’d given him a full year to truly think it over.
A year in which so much happened that made him reprioritise and reconsider much of his life, notably the death of his father-in-law, Robert after a not insignificant and lengthy battle with cancer. Officially the year grace period Kathy had offered ended on January 29th, 2021 - the fifteen year anniversary of the day they’d first met, but Robert’s death last summer meant that she no longer held him to it strictly. It felt wrong, unfair and pointless to do so. Life was too short for ultimately trivial self-imposed deadlines.
Roberto had offered Jake the chance to return both publicly and privately on more than one occasion, but something about it never felt right. As if returning meant he would just be going through the motions and not really wrestling for the love of it anymore. He wasn’t Spike, this wasn’t all he valued in life, a lesson he’d tried to pass on to Warren in Spike’s stead, becoming a sort of surrogate father figure in the young man’s life.
Jake would not fail Warren where Spike so desperately had.
And as part of that promise, Jake realised he could not be a hypocrite. He could not return to the ring if he legitimately felt he had no reason to. Spike could never bring himself to stick to retirement, Jake wanted, and needed to be better than that. Life was too short not to go after what you really wanted.
And what The Conways really wanted was a son.
Not even the allure of a Sacrifice being held on the eighteenth anniversary of his professional debut last month or the fact that High Stakes was going to be held in his home country at the end of this month stirred him to even think about going back out on the road.
Maybe he really was at peace with where he had ended up in this life, finally.
Jake leant across and kissed Kathy gently on the forehead, smiled and then wrapped his arms around her as he snuggled into the sheets, pressed up against her natural warmth. Kathy turned into his embrace and sighed softly, content, her eyes closed still. Jake smiled.
Maybe there really was life after wrestling after all.
Warren being World Champion seemed to reaffirm his decision. His victory had nullified the allure of the bounty on Gilmore’s head. Roberto Verona had gotten what he wanted once more, just like he always did. The business was in safe hands in the future, he was the past.
IWF no longer needed The Ace as much as his family needed Jake Conway.
Well howdy there pardner.