{Chapter 15}
A few days after the incident at the house show Kennedy and Isabella arrived home. Cindy greeted them at the door, a wide smile curling her lips. Kennedy gave her a peck on the cheek and eyed her. Isabella had been quiet for the remainder of the road trip, staying close to Cena, Jeff or Kennedy. She now headed into the living room to leave the couple to their hellos.
“What’s with you,” he asked.
Cindy produced a manila envelope from behind her back. “The test results arrived yesterday,” she said happily.
“With all the shit going on I’d completely forgotten about this,” he said taking the envelope and heading into the living room where Isabella sat on the couch. “Izzy, we got the test results.”
“Open it already,” Cindy demanded, still smiling.
Kennedy opened up the envelope, pulling out the paperwork. He scanned it silently, his face unreadable. Isabella waited patiently to know if she was related to this man or not. Cindy groaned impatiently when Kennedy didn’t say anything for a long while.
“Well? What does it say,” she demanded.
Kennedy’s face broke into a smile. “I hate to tell ya this, kid,” he said to Isabella. “But you’re stuck with me for the rest of your life. You’re definitely my sister.”
Isabella smiled for the first time in days. “Then this calls for a celebration,” she said. “I’ll make a nice dinner for us.”
“Jeff and Matt are coming over,” Cindy said smiling.
“Oh yeah and I invited John,” Kennedy said. “He was in town doing some promotional shit.”
“Great,” Isabella said. “We’ll need supplies.”
“I can drive you to the market,” Cindy said.
“I can do it,” Isabella said holding out her hand for the car keys. Cindy hesitated looking to Kennedy. “Guys, I’m just going to the market and back here. Please don’t get all weird on me.”
“All right,” Kennedy said pulling his car keys out of his pocket and tossing them to her. They watched her leave before Cindy turned back to him.
“Ken, what if…”
“She needs this time, Cinder,” he said. “She just needs some time to herself.”
~*~
Later in the afternoon delicious scents filled the air. Isabella had sequestered herself away in the kitchen, not allowing anyone to enter while she cooked for everyone. Even Cindy was relegated to entertaining her cousins for the time being. Dinner would be a surprise and Isabella didn’t want anyone to spoil it.
The doorbell rang and Kennedy went to answer the door. He opened it expecting to see Cena and he did, though he had brought a guest. “What the fuck is he doing here,” Kennedy demanded.
“Randy’s flight was canceled,” Cena said. “He didn’t have any place to go until tomorrow. I told him it would be cool to hang out.”
“Ken, I can leave,” Randy said, not enjoying the fact that they were talking about him like he wasn’t there.
“No,” Cena said grabbing Randy’s arm and all but dragging him into the house. “The more the merrier, right Ken?”
Kennedy sighed, but deep down he knew that the more people that were there the less likely Jakob would be able to try anything if he made an appearance. “Right,” Kennedy replied. “Come on in, guys. Izzy’s making dinner.”
Cena sniffed the air, his mouth practically watering at the aromas coming from the kitchen. “She can cook too,” he asked smiling. “Damn. She’s the total package.”
“Hey, watch it,” Kennedy chuckled. “That’s my sister you’re talking about.”
“And it’s official now. We got the test results to prove it,” Isabella said coming out of the kitchen. “Dinner’s almost ready.” She then caught sight of Randy. “What’s he doing here?”
“I invited him,” Cena replied. “He’s got nowhere to be until tomorrow so I told him it’d be all right to hang out.”
“If you don’t have enough food for everyone I can just go back to the hotel,” Randy said softly.
“There’s plenty,” Isabella said. “Besides what I’ve made is probably better for you than room service.” With that she headed into the kitchen. “I could use a hand from someone.”
“Go on, Randy,” Cena said shoving him after Isabella. “Give the lady a hand.”
Reluctantly Randy followed Isabella into the kitchen. “Everything smells delicious,” he said watching as she stirred a big pot of tomato sauce. She opened up the oven and motioned for Randy to come over.
“It’s a little heavy,” she said pointing to the lasagna that was in the oven. He nodded grabbing some potholders and pulling the pan out of the oven, placing it on the table.
“How are you doing,” he asked watching as she sliced up some tomatoes for the salad. “Last time I saw you…”
“Look, you’re done in here,” she said turning to glare at him. “You can go back to your friends now.”
“Isabella, I really wish you wouldn’t do that,” he said.
“Yeah and I wish you’d fall on your head and drown in your own barf, but we can’t always get what we want,” she replied coldly.
Randy sighed. “Fine. You know I think I’ll pass on dinner. I’m suddenly not hungry.” With that he headed out of the kitchen. Moments later she heard the front door close.
“What happened,” Jeff asked coming to see if Isabella needed any help.
“Nothing,” she lied. “He just wasn’t hungry. Could you take that into the dining room and tell the others that dinner is ready.” She went back to tossing the salad. Jeff frowned, but took the lasagna into the dining room as asked.
When Isabella emerged from the kitchen moments later she wore a smile on her face. Happily she served dinner and listened to stories about life on the road and various other tales the men had to share. Jeff suspected that she was putting on a brave face to keep her mind off of Jakob and anything else that was bothering her.
It was late by the time Matt and Jeff left. It was later still when Cena decided to call it a night. Not wanting him to drive so late at night Kennedy offered him the couch, which he gladly accepted. Isabella had retired to her room hours before, feigning a headache.
~*~
It was a little after three in the morning when Cena was coming back from the bathroom and he saw someone sneak out of the house. He followed the person and saw Isabella struggling with her bag. Not caring that it was a cold night and he had no shoes on he followed her.
“Does Ken know you’re skipping out on him,” Cena asked, causing her to jump out of her skin.
“Damn it, John,” she hissed. “Don’t scare me like that!”
“You didn’t answer my question,” he replied crossing his arms across his chest.
“No, Ken doesn’t know,” she replied dropping the bag she had been dragging along. “Neither does Cindy.”
“Why would you do this to them, Izzy,” he asked. “They opened up their home to you when you were just a stranger to them. Now that you know you’re family you’re just leaving?”
“It’s safer for them,” Isabella said the tears stinging her eyes. “For all of you. I don’t want you or Ken or Jeff hurt just because of me.”
“It wouldn’t be because of you, Izzy,” John replied. “If…big fat IF anything happened to one of us it would be because Jakob is a fucking lunatic.”
“I couldn’t live with that,” she said softly, the tears slipping down her cheeks.
“Izzy, you’re all Ken’s got left in this world. You’re his only family,” Cena said. “If you leave…it would crush him. Any physical pain Jakob causes him he can get over. The emotional pain of losing his only family…that could scar him for life.”
“I don’t know what to do, John,” she whimpered. “I want to stay. I want Ken to be part of my life, but…I don’t want Jakob to hurt him.”
“You let us worry about Jakob,” Cena said picking up her bag with ease. “Just come on back inside ‘cause I’m freezin’ my nuts off here.”
She smirked a little bit, sniffling. “All right,” she replied finally following him back into the house. “You can’t tell Ken about this,” she said softly. “If he knew I tried to leave…I couldn't stand to see the hurt in his eyes.”
“Your secret is safe with me, Izzy,” Cena said smiling. “Go get some sleep.” He watched her head up to her room before heading back to the couch to get some more sleep.
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