Like a Phoenix [WWE Fanfiction]

Chapter 1 - New beginnings

A/N: This is my first ever fanfic, please be gentle with me. I'm still learning. If you have any comments, or ways I can improve, please let me know. I hope you enoy! :)

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"Come on, Sammy! Get up already; we have to leave in half an hour!"

Awoken by the voice of her older half-brother, Samantha stretched her arms out to both sides of her head before letting out a loud yawn. The morning sun peaked through the curtains of her bedroom, painting it in a soft orange glow. She definitely wasn't used to getting up this early again after she had spent the past three months either barely sleeping or spending most of her days in bed. The sudden change in structure and the busy lifestyle of her father made it difficult for her to adjust to what seemed to be a new chapter in her own life.

The slender brunette climbed out of bed before making her way into the spacious en-suite bathroom. A gasp escaped her lips as the cold water from the shower hit her bare torso. She didn't bother turning it up as she only planned to spend a few minutes in there – she was already rushing. After having dried herself off she slipped into a pair of fitted denim jeans, a light grey tank top and a black cardigan. She put her hair up in a neat ponytail and applied a light layer of makeup to hide the fact that she had only gotten an hour or two of uninterrupted sleep.

Making her way down the stairs the house was already filled with a familiar sense of hustle. Indistinct chatter coming from all corners of the mansion she now resided in. She was able to sneak into the kitchen and grab two of the pancakes her sister had prepared before being spotted by her father. She loved him, she always did but with him being busy running his own company and her spending the majority of her life living with her mother, their relationship was never as intimate as she had hoped.

"Sammy, darling! I hope you're excited for your big day today!"

"Of course Dad," she said. "I can't wait!"

Although she knew that this was a lie, she didn't want to disappoint him. After the passing of her mother he had offered to take her in when he saw how much it had all affected her. She had been left shattered, drained to the point where she had to give up her job. She was nothing but the shell of a person that she used to be. When her father told her that he would love it for her to work as a new ring announcer, Samantha was anxious about the whole thing but eventually agreed as she never wanted to disappoint her father. Now that she was only hours away from being on live television for the first time in her life she was so nervous she could hardly keep her thoughts together, let alone remember what she had to say later on.

"All set for tonight, Sis?" Her older half-brother Shane had entered the kitchen, in his hands a dark blue sports bag. He had always been the closest to her - even when they didn't see each other for months at a time he would make sure to call her almost every weekend. Shane was also one of the very few people she had told about her anxiety disorder. Diagnosed at age 17 it had been a burden on her ever since, one that she had tried to cope with for most of her adult life. She sighed.

"I hope I am."

"Of course you are! Once you're out there, it's really not as bad as it looks!" He patted her on the back before making his way to load his suitcase and sports bad into the car. They were all going to be travelling together.

"That's easy for you to say!" Samantha shouted after him. "You've been doing this for years!"

"And you'll do just as well as me, trust me! It runs in the family!"

Having finished her rushed breakfast she followed the rest of her family to the black Lexus parked outside the mansion. Shane was going to drive for the one hour trip, with her father riding shotgun and her sitting in the spacious back of the car. For longer trips the family would usually travel by private jet, a luxury she still wasn't quite used to. Samantha decided to spend the time revising for the show later that evening. She had made herself a few cards with prompts and sentences she had to say as well as a list of the matches that were planned and who would be competing in them. Although her father owned the biggest wrestling promotion known to man she was never particularly interested in it. Having lived in Tennessee with her mother for most of her life she grew up far, far away from the wild life on the wrestling circuit and it was only now that she was beginning to learn all its ins and outs. On her printed out cards she had matched pictures of wrestlers with their respective names and how they would like to be announced and admittedly she seemed to like some of them.