Paul winced as he watched his daughter taking a DDT in the ring as he walked down the ramp towards her and Jon who were currently training.
"Hey dad! Come in here and help Jon train me, it's pretty hard with him doing it by himself." Kennedy smiled, getting up from the mat as she leaned on the ropes.
"Easy tiger. Today is day one, I don't think you need to do all the crazy stuff just yet. Why don't you run the ropes?"
"Did that." She smiled, watching her dad get in the ring.
"What about rolls?"
"Did that too dad." She giggled, going over to pat Jon on his chest.
"Jon taught me, he said I did it perfectly." She bubbled, pecking Jon on the lips while he chuckled.
Paul looked over at Jon and raised his eyes brows questionable but Jon nodded.
"Swear on it. She did good. We can go easy today and just go over a few of the basic moves. We just went over a regular DDT, so why don't we piggyback off that? We can go over clotheslines."
Paul nodded and walked towards Jon, instructing Kennedy to stand in the corner as he explained everything.
"First, you and Jon are going to lockup just like this. You let Jon get the upper hand so he can push you up against the ropes. Then you'll gain some speed and clothesline Jon right here."
Kennedy watched as her father and Jon locked up, Jon gaining the upper hand and releasing the hold so he could throw her dad against the ropes before taking a clothesline.
Jon got up and looked towards Kennedy, who nodded and switched places with her dad. Kennedy and Jon locked up firmly and just like she watched her dad do, she let him overpower and throw her up against the ropes. She felt the slight burn on her back as she bounced off them and ran forward with her arm extended, clotheslinning Jon to the mat with her standing above him.
"Good?" She asked as she stared down at Jon, who smiled and nodded his head.
Kennedy laughed and extended her arm out, helping him to stand on his feet. They both dusted off and looked towards Paul who leaned in the corner nodding his head and rubbing his hand through his beard.
"Let's work on dropkicks since you're picking this up fairly quickly. Neither Jon and I could perform it, but I'll explain it and hopefully you understand."
Kennedy giggled and nodded and watched again as Paul stood on the second rope and Jon stood in front of him.
"From up here you need to jump high enough and push your legs out as far as you can so you can kick Jon. Go at an angle. Once you jump shift your body to the right a bit, that way when you land you can brace yourself with your arms."
Her dad jumped off the top rope and positioned Jon far enough from the ropes as Kennedy hopped up onto the top rope and mentally remembered what her dad had explained to her.
"Ready when you are, babe." Jon spoke from where he stood, Kennedy nodded and took a deep breath.
Before she could second guess her actions, she did it and quickly stood up when her body hit the mat. She bent over below Jon and rubbed his chest.
"Are you okay? Did I hurt you? I'm so sorry." She apologized repeatedly until she heard her dad chuckle from behind her, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Good job, Kenny. You did it perfectly, but I don't think Jon expected such an impact. Didn't you Jon?" He asked patting his chest as he groaned and sat up.
"Yup." He said weakly as both Kennedy and Paul laughed, helping him back up.
"Come on, let's do some more. I can take it." Jon spoke, ruffling Kennedy's hair with one hand and rubbing his chest with the other.
For the most part, training Kennedy for her first day was a breeze. She picked up on the moves fairly quickly and did a lot of things with consistency, which impressed both Paul and Jon. But they both knew that had to take it easy on her, the last thing both men wanted was for her to get hurt.
However, Kennedy could tell that they were both holding back. She suggested going over more complex moves, but every time it was just shut down. The entire practice was repetitive, and it was obvious that Kennedy was clearly agitated.
"DDT, Kenny." She groaned and rolled her eyes as she did that move for what seemed like the thousandth time in the past hour.
"Dad, can I please learn something else? I've been doing DDT's and drop kicks for the past hour. I'm ready for something new." She pleaded as her dad and Jon both looked at her and shook their heads.
She looked on with her arms crossed against her chest as her dad looked at his wrist and smiled, adverting his gaze to Jon.
"I think that's enough for today. Let's head to catering?"
Jon nodded his head and looked towards Kennedy. "Come on babe, let's go get you something to eat."
"But it's only been an hour. The show doesn't start until two more hours, that's enough time to fit in an hour more of training. Come on, I'm trying to get Mania ready!" She spoke, hands coming down to her sides as her foot stomped against the mat.
"Come on babe, we can train again tomorrow. Are you coming or not?" Jon asked as he went through the ropes, halting to wait for Kennedy, who sighed and shook her head.
"I'll meet you there in a bit." She waved them off, and he nodded, hopping off the apron to follow Paul to the back so they could head to catering.
As Kennedy watched as they walked away behind the curtains, Joe and Colby had come out dressed in workout clothes. She smiled to herself and knew she had to use this opportunity as an advantage. There was no way her dad or Jon was going to push her to her limits, but Joe and Colby would definitely do it.
"Hey! Wanna help me train?" She called out, leaning against the ropes as Joe and Colby stepped into the ring.
"Weren't you just training with your dad and Jon?" Colby rose his brows at Kennedy, who nodded and smiled.
"Yeah, but they're taking it easy on me, so I guess now I have to confide in you guys." She told them as they both chuckled and shook their heads, causing Kennedy to pout.
"Oh c'mon! I really need this, I don't want to embarrass myself at WrestleMania. Jonathan and my dad are way too protective to push me. So would you please, please train me?" She begged, clasping her hands together.
Joe and Colby looked at each other before Joe cleared his throat and nodded.
"Fine, we'll help train you, but if Jon or your dad finds out and our asses is on the table, we will never forgive you." Joe pointed as Kennedy squealed and gave the two men a hug.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She repeated before pulling away and tightening her ponytail.
"Shall we start?" She smirked before locking up with Colby and continuing the training that she needed.
Kennedy felt a lot more relieved after training with Colby and Joe. Since Colby did have experience with training his own students back home in Iowa, he was able to really push her to her limits. In that hour, she had learned a lot more from Joe and Colby than she did with her dad and Jon.
She wiped the bead of sweat off her forehead before taking a sip of her water with Joe and Colby sitting beside her.
"You did really good, can't believe you didn't want to get in the ring sooner." Joe spoke and Kennedy swallowed before a smile appeared on her face.
"Thanks. I don't know, I just never thought about stepping into the squared circle, but now that I've tried it I might want to do it full time." Joe and Colby whistled as Kennedy laughed and stood up.
"If you guys are up for it, could you help me train more often? Dad and Jon don't like seeing me get hurt in here, so it's hard for them to take me where I want to be."
Both men nodded and stood up giving Kennedy a hug before they all walked up the ramp and headed their separate ways. Kennedy strolled over to Jon's locker room where her bags were. She quickly changed out of her sweaty clothes and took a shower before changing into a dress and slipping on heels, even though her feet were on fire from training.
After a couple of minutes of drying her hair and combing through it, she walked out of his locker room and towards catering where she knew her dad and Jon were. She stood correct when she spotted them sitting at a table talking over some food. She grabbed her own plate and pulled a chair to sit with them, bending down to give Jon a kiss on the cheek.
"Hey, what took you so long?" Jon looked over at her and she smiled.
"I ran into Joe and Colby, and we ended up talking for a bit. Joe even showed me pictures of the twins. They're to die for." She partly lied. She didn't want them to get in trouble for helping her.
"That's nice. I've got to go get ready, but I'll see you two tonight." Paul shook Jon's hand and ruffled Kennedy's hair before walking away, leaving just the couple.
"So did you like training today?" Jon asked as he watched her take a bite of her food before nodding and swallowing.
"Yeah, it was really fun, except the fact that you and my father made me do the same moves for an hour." She sassed, causing Jon to chuckle.
"We just don't want you to get hurt, baby. I promise we'll get you there." Kennedy sighed and nodded before Jon leaned forward to peck her lips.
The weeks by and it felt like she was moving nowhere with getting trained by Jon and her dad. Each and every single practice was "taken easy" and it only annoyed her even more. Though after every practice, she would text Joe and Colby to come down to the ring and train her. She learned so much from them, like how to properly sell a move, how to perform for the camera, and a new move set that she would definitely be incorporated into her match at WrestleMania.
Because she was learning all these new things and moves, she so badly wanted to show Jon and Paul just so they could see what she was capable of, but they always told her it was too soon. It was stressing her out more than anything. It felt as if they didn't believe in her, that they didn't think she could do it.
She stood backstage at Raw, watching her dad give a pep talk to Mercedes and Lexi. They had a championship match tonight, and since Paul was one of the people to really help those two women, he was sure to give them words of encouragement.
"You guys can do it. I know you can. You guys are the show and they came here to see you guys. Don't worry about impressing the crowd or getting them out of their seats. Just go out there, have fun, and you'll be fine. You girls got this."
For some reason, hearing her dad talk to these girls like they were his own daughter sort of caused a pang in her heart. She wanted to be the one to hear those words being spoken to her. Saying that she could do it too, not to take it easy since she was a rookie that could get hurt.
She felt a single tear slide and quickly turned around, brushing it away and heading back to her office. She was beyond tired, mentally and physically. She practically had two training sessions every day before shows and in between cities when they had time. Add on the business aspect that she had to carry out every Monday on the road, attending multiple meetings a day, and dealing with all the crap of being apart of the business.
It was a lot on her plate. She just wished that her dad and Jon would make it easier by at least giving her a chance to show them that she wasn't just a rookie like they thought she was.
As she sorted through papers, the door opened and Jon strolled in, walking over to give her a kiss but was surprised to be given the hand and stopped.
"Not right now, I'm busy." She sighed, not looking him in the eye as she continued her work.
"Woah, what's up with the tone? Did I do something wrong?" Jon asked, lifting his brows, wanting to gain her attention, but she never looked up at him.
"You didn't do anything wrong. I'm just busy right now." She replied shrugging her shoulders.
"Are you sure? I feel this tension between us and—"
Kennedy stood up and shook her head as she gathered her papers and finally looked him in the eye.
"Nothing is wrong. I'm tired, my body hurts, I barley got enough sleep last night and I have a meeting in ten minutes. We're fine alright, I'll see you later on. I love you." She told him, pecking his cheek before exiting her office, leaving Jon confused.
The night went on and things were still off between him and Kennedy. He could tell she was in a pissy mood from the way she interacted with him. She gave everyone else a warm smile when they talked to her except for himself. He retraced all his steps, thinking if he could have done anything wrong, but the way he had been belittling her slipped over his head.
When they got to the hotel room, she didn't say a word to him until she came out of the shower, got dressed for bed, and told him she loved him before going to sleep as he stayed awake all night still pondering as to why she was acting so cold to him.
Two weeks passed, Kennedy was in the ring with her dad and Jon training, this time accompanied with her mom. Kennedy and Steph locked up in the middle of the ring, running through a few basic moves as their men watched as well as some other people outside of the ring.
"Can we try something? I want to do a hurricanrana." Kennedy suggested as she and her mom broke their hold.
"Sure, where do you want me?"
"Right in the middle is perfect, then I'll bounce you off the ropes so you can catch me, then we can do the move."
Stephanie nodded and just as Kennedy was about to pull off the move, Paul had stepped in between catching Kennedy and putting her down.
"What the hell are you thinking? You don't know how to do a huricanrana." He told her as she huffed and pushed her hair back.
"And how are you so sure of that, dad?" She retorted.
"Because we didn't teach you." Jon stepped in, making Kennedy roll her eyes.
"You could get hurt, Kennedy. How many times do we need to say that?"
"Guys, stop attacking her. She's got it." Stephanie added as she stood beside her daughter whom she could tell was on the verge of letting the two of it have it.
"Steph, she's still learning, she's just a rookie—"
Kennedy let out a frustrated scream, interrupting her father and causing everyone to stare at her.
"I'm so sick and tired of you two always belittling me and making excuses on why I can't do certain things! News flash! Joe and Colby have been the ones training me and they've been a lot more encouraging than you two have. I don't care that I'm your daughter or your girlfriend, that doesn't give you a right to take it easy on me or try to make me feel like crap. My body is hurting and I'm just as drained as you guys are, maybe even more. Since you two don't really want to train me, then I guess I'll have to go to Colby and Joe since they don't treat me like a piece of glass that's going to shatter any second."
Paul and Jon's eyes widened as Kennedy finished off her speech and walked through the ropes, hopping down the apron and heading to the back. Stephanie shook her head and stared coldly at the two men before adverting her attention to the rest of the people watching.
"What the hell are you guys looking at?" All eyes turned away, and she sneered, rolling out of the ring and running towards Kennedy, Jon and Paul following behind her.
"Kennedy! Kennedy! Kennedy McMahon Levesque do not ignore me!" Stephanie called out as she ran after her daughter, who headed to her office.
She whipped open the door and Stephanie was quick to shut it after letting Jon and Paul in. Kennedy let a scream and stomped on the floor.
"Come on, honey, talk to me. What's going on?" Stephanie pleaded, approaching her daughter and gripping her by the shoulders. The two men standing off to the side allowing Stephanie to calm her down.
"How do you think I feel right now, mom? Jon and my own father don't even believe in me, maybe I just shouldn't do WrestleMania—" She said glancing towards Jon and Paul.
She cupped her daughter's cheeks, forcing her to look at her mom "Of course they believe in you, sweetie, they always have. Don't let this get to you."
Kennedy threw down her arms and whimpered.
"How do you think I feel seeing dad encourage all these other women but not me? He's always pushing them to do their best, yet he hasn't done that for me. He's holding me back. My own boyfriend, too. They both underestimate me and I'm so tired of feeling like crap."
Steph stroked Kennedy's hair and nodded understandingly. She couldn't even imagine all the stuff that was on her plate. She pulled her daughter close, bring her into a hug before glancing at Jon and Paul, ushering them to come over.
"I-we're sorry, babe. We didn't mean to make you feel like crap, we just don't want you to get hurt-"
"I'm not! You guys don't get it!" She pulled away from her mom's hug and stared at all of them.
"I need to prove myself in front of all those people. My boyfriend and my dad are phenomenal wrestlers that could wrestle circles around anyone in that locker room. My mom was women's champion at one point in time. If I don't go beyond the bar at WrestleMania, what do you think is going to happen to me? I'll be the new laughingstock around here and the entire wrestling community. I'll bring shame to not only the McMahon name, but Jon's career too."
They all realized that Kennedy was putting a lot of pressure on herself to be the best wrestler she could possibly be. Jon silently blamed himself for being so discouraging and wrapped his arms around his girlfriend and kissed her forehead.
"Doll, look at me please." He asked softly, nudging her chin until her eyes met his.
"You don't have to prove yourself to anyone. You're this beautiful, talented, amazing women who can do anything. I believe you, your mom and dad believe you, and you need to start believing in yourself. And you're right, you're not a piece of glass that's going to shatter, you deserve to the training you want, and I'm sorry that I haven't been there to help you as much as you'd like. But if you give me another chance, I promise I won't baby you and I'll help you get WrestleMania ready. How does that sound?"
She smiled slightly and nodded her head and hugged him once more, feeling much more comforted this time.
As she pulled away from the hug, her father motioned her to come towards him, which she did. Kennedy let out a deep breath as her father hugged her.
"Listen to me, Kennedy. I know you can do everything that you put your heart into, including things in that ring. But before you're a wrestler, you're my daughter. I've spent so many years watching over you and your sisters, and I can bear to see you guys get hurt. So you have to understand where I'm coming from sometimes, but I also need to know where you're coming from. I'm sorry that Jon and I have been so inconsiderate to you and your feelings, from now on we're going to do our best to be your coaches...but I'll still be careful."
Kennedy giggled slightly, knowing her dad was such a softie for her, her sisters, and her mom. He would always be dad before coach.
"So does that sound good?" He asked pulling away looking at her and she nodded giving him another hug.
"We've got about an hour and a half before the show starts. That leaves us enough time for a half an hour of training. So what do you say kid, want to show us what you've got?" Paul asked, crossing his arms across his chest while Kennedy smirked.
"Come on, I'll kick your ass." She challenged her dad while Stephanie and Jon laughed watching Paul pick Kennedy up over his shoulder walking back out towards the ring.
They trailed behind the two of them as Kennedy laughed uncontrollably through the halls as some people passed by and watched the father and daughter duo have their fun.
"Has she always been a daddy's girl?" Jon chuckled looking towards Stephanie who nodded her head rapidly and smiled.
"All the girls have him wrapped around their pinkes. He'll always come to their rescue. Are you close with your parents?" Steph looked towards Jon as they continued walking. He shrugged his shoulders and rubbed his hands together, causing her to shoot him a half smile.
When they approached the ramp, she stopped at the top of the stage, placing a hand on his back warmly.
"You're apart of our family now, Jon, so don't worry about a thing. Paul and I will be here if you ever need anything, just reach out and we'll be there." Stephanie pulled him into a small hug and he smiled, thankful that his girlfriend's parents were so fond of him.
"Thanks, Steph." He replied pulling away before hearing a loud groan come from the ring. They look down and laughed seeing Kennedy standing above her father, sticking her tongue out as she gloated.
"We should hurry or else Kennedy's going to put him in a hospital." She patted him on the back as they walked down to the ring, Jon jumping up on the apron and helping her up as they stepped through the ropes and watched Paul brush himself off.
"Uh—your turn Jon, she knocked the air out of me." Paul rubbed his chest and coughed as Kennedy laughed and ran into Jon's arms. He caught her right on time.
"Ready to get your butt kicked by a girl?" She giggled, wrapping her arms around his neck.
"Not if I kick your ass first." He smirked, she snickered and tightened her legs around his waist and hooked his head underneath her arms, locking in the guillotine choke.
"Gotta be quicker than that." She whispered, hearing Jon struggle before letting go and jumping off to sit on the ropes across him.
"It's on Levesque." His lips quirked up, approaching her.
"Bring it Good." She laughed as they locked up with her parents, watching in amusement.
A/N: Hey everyone so sorry for the late update! I hoped you enjoyed this chapter of Our Fight For Love. Do you think Kennedy is putting too much pressure on herself to carry the Mcmahon-Levesque legacy? If you have any predictions for the book or any comments, please feel free to leave them. I love hearing back from my readers. Remember to vote and comment, don't be silent readers! Check out my other books, Little Ms. Lopez (Dean Ambrose) & Addiction (Seth Rollins).