Rebecca walked into the house and left Colby to calm his own anger outside, she walked up to Ella's room and saw the little girl laying on her bed with a playstation controller in her hand as she focused on the game that was on the flatscreen hanging on the wall.
"Hey.." Rebecca spoke up and Ella looked over at her for a second before turning back to the game "Pause it" she said as she walked over to the bed and Ella paused the game and placed the controller on her nightstand
"Dad's not happy" Ella said and Rebecca shook her head
"Your Dad is currently throwing a fit in the backyard" Rebecca said
"Can I watch?" she asked
"Ella!" she scolded
"Sorry" she shrugged "It's funny when he gets mad"
"I'm glad you have entertainment when he gets angry" she said
"He never gets mad at me, it's always you.. you guys fight all the time"
"We do not fight all the time" Rebecca shook her head "We have disagreements yes, but it's usually because we both think we're right"
"He's mad about the school" she said and Rebecca nodded
"He doesn't want you going alone.. he wants to protect you" she explained and Ella rolled her eyes
"but I worked hard" she said and Rebecca nodded once more
"I know you did, and I think you should go but he has to agree to it, I'm not going to let you go if he's not okay with it" she shook her head
"Can I try?" Ella asked "I can talk to him" she stood up from the bed
"El, he isn't really in the best mood for you to go down there"
"What is he going to do to me?" she shrugged as she walked out of the room and Rebecca knew there was no talking her out of it so she went to Ava and Olivia to play with them
Ella walked out the door and saw her father sitting on the couch by the fire pit and he looked over to her as she shut the door and stood frozen next to it
"Daddy.." she said quietly and he held his arm out
"Come here" he said and she walked over slowly and sat next to him, he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her into his side
"I'm sorry you and mama are fighting because of me" she said and he looked down at her and pulled her onto his lap
"Let's get this straight right now, you are not the reason we are fighting.. whatever happens between your mom and me is exactly that, it's between us it doesn't involve you or your sisters"
"Yes it does" Ella nodded "You two fighting hurts me and Ava and Liv" she said "We could hear it and they came running into my room upset, I got them to go play in their room but it still involves us" she said
"El.." he said shaking his head "That's why we save this major disagreements for when you three are asleep"
"I still hear it sometimes" she said "but I don't want to make it worse so I just stay quiet" she said and he shook his head and placed a kiss to the top of her head "Are you getting divorced?"
"No" he said quickly "That's not even an option" he said and she nodded "This is just something we will have to figure out"
"You don't want me to go"
"I don't" he shook his head "You would be so far away from us.."
"You could move" she suggested
"El, I've got everything here.. I can't just leave the school and the coffee shop and I'm still on the road, it's a ten hour flight or longer from wherever I'm at.. if I flew over there every Tuesday I'd get there and be there for a few hours before having to fly back and I wouldn't even get to see you because it's during the week"
"Get weekends off" she said
"It doesn't work like that kid" he shook his head "I want to protect you and I can't do that if you're all the way over there"
"You gotta let me go" she said and he looked at her but he saw his little baby and thought back to what Rebecca said about teaching her to walk
7 years ago...
Rebecca and Colby sat across from one another in the ring at Monday night RAW as Ella was in between them, crawling back and forth between the two before Rebecca picked her up and put her on her feet and held her there so she could get her balance
"Go see Daddy" Rebecca said and Colby held his arms out as the little girl took one tiny step, then another
"Oh my god" Colby said as he moved back so the little girl would have to keep moving and she laughed as she fell on her butt and then crawled to him and he grabbed her holding her in the air "Elephant!" he said
"Yay!" Rebecca clapped "Let's do it again" she said and he turned the little girl back around
"Come see Mommy" Rebecca said holding her arms out and Colby held her there as the little girl tried to move her feet "Colby you've got to let her go" she said "She has to learn without you holding onto her" she said and Colby let her go and the little girl walked to her mother with a smile on her face
"BABY!" Rebecca exclaimed "You're walking!" she said with a smile
He shook his head and it brought him back to the present, where his daughter was staring up at him
"You can't protect me from everything" she said and he shook his head
"Yeah right" he said "I can protect you if you let me, I'm your dad that is my job.. I will always protect you, always.. but I know I've got to let you grow up" he said and she nodded "Which is why, I'm going to let you go.. I will talk with Mama and we will figure it out.. whatever we have to do.. I'm so proud of you and this is something you've worked extremely hard for and I want to support you in whatever makes you happy.. I made a promise to you the day you were born that I would always support you no matter what you decided to do in life and this is the first time I have to actually keep that promise to you, I have to support you"
"I love you Daddy" she said
"I love you Elephant"
