Too Sweet

Chapter 1: Lilith Hickenbottom

"Shawn..." her mom sighed. That's right, Lilith's father was the Heartbreak Kid himself, Shawn Michaels.

"Wait, did you know she was planning on pulling this bullshit?" he lashed out at his wife. This caused Lily to jump. She knew he was upset now. Him being a born again Christian rarely cursed. "You should've been the one to shut her down when she came to you with it. You were around back in my prime. You know everything the business has put me through. When you got pregnant with her I told you from Day 1 that I wanted her nowhere near the business. I never even took her to a show because I wanted her with absolutely no connection to wrestling."

"Why do you hate the business that made you? The business that paid for this house we're sitting in," Lilith countered him.

"Hate? Hate? Hate? Hate? Hate?!" the word kept getting repeated, louder and louder, and more insistently. "It's the opposite, Lily. I love the business. I eat, sleep and breathe the business. If I didn't respect Taker and the fact that he retired me, I'd be back in the ring today if they called me, brittle bones and all. The only thing I hate is the thought of you in the business."

"Daddy, the business is much different than in your prime. People aren't pill popping, coke snorting and having wild orgies backstage anymore," she tried to reason with him.

"They may not be but it's still a cutthroat industry and I don't want you exposed to it," Shawn replied.

"I'm pretty sure Ric Flair's heyday was much wilder than yours and he allowed Ashley to become apart of it. Look at her now, on track to become the GOAT female WWE superstar."

"Ashley was 26 years old when she signed. At that age he couldn't stop her from doing shit. She was a mature woman, lived her youth and knew for sure that that was the life she wanted. You were still a child less than 24 hours ago. What kind of father would I be if I let my little girl step into that world?"

"One who raised me right and trusted me to make the right decisions regardless of where I am or who or what I'm surrounded by," she declared fiercely.

"I absolutely agree," her mom replied.

"You don't know the first thing about wrestling," Shawn's eyes narrowed.

"Even though you didn't take me to any shows, I was home watching every match you were in. I cried when you retired, not only because you retired but because you didn't take me. You didn't even take me to your hall of fame ceremony. Even when you left, I've never missed a single Raw, Smackdown or pay per view. I love this business too and my life will not be complete until I step into a WWE ring," Lily said with confidence.

"Step into a WWE ring?" he scoffed. "You think it's just that easy, huh? It would take you years of training to become passable enough to step into the ring and just passable isn't good enough for any child of mine. You'd be begging USC to take you in after your first bump."

"Daddy, I took my first bump 2 years ago," she revealed.

"What?"

"Do you know that guy you've been paying to tutor me for a few hours after school?"

"Mr. Preston? What does he have to do with this?"

"His name is Ritter and he's an indie guy with his own wrestling school. That's what I've been studying the last 2 years."

Shawn looked betrayed and turned his gaze on his wife who just shrugged. "I can't believe what you're telling me. I guess this is why you wanted to go to this guy instead of school appointed tutors."

"So what are we going to do, Shawn?" her mom asked.

"Why is it 'we' now because it looks like the two of you have been sneaking behind my back for at least two years doing what the hell you wanted. I'm going to go outside and turn off the grill so my house won't burn down. Then I'm going to bed. On August 15th, I'm going to pack up Lily's shit and drive her to USC for freshman move in day and I don't want to hear any more talk about wrestling."