Powerful Impact [a Roman Reigns story]

24 Steps

Larissa POV

"Oh, you're so dirty! Such a dirty little girl. I don't think the washcloth will get us far. You definitely need a bath Mini Miss." I said to Clementine after she had eaten her lunch.

Her whole face was smeared with tomato sauce and bits of pasta. She was going through that phase where she wanted to eat herself. I tried to feed her, but this quickly ended in screaming and crying. So I gave up and let her do it. Even though not everything ended up in her mouth, of course.

And since she loved bathing, it wasn't the end of the world. It just took longer than just wiping her mouth. I quickly texted Roman to let him know that we would be a little late.

This week we accompanied him to work again. It was really fun and a nice break from the daily grind. Even Clem loved traveling. At least as long as Roman was with us and she could sleep through the flight in his arms. She loved him to bits. And I loved the bond my two had from day one.

"Mam mam mamaa.... mamam..." Clem babbled as I put her in the bathtub.

I washed her off quickly before letting her enjoy the warm water a little longer. She splashed around happily with the water. My daughter's giggles and squeals were music to my ears. Unlike the repeated ringing of my phone.

It was Barbara again. She had been calling me several times a day for a month now. But after the first few times, I ignored her. I didn't have the patience to listen to her complaints and whining. But that didn't seem to discourage her. Quite the opposite. Since yesterday, she's been calling even more often.

And not only that... Now she was also using her husband's phone. But since I knew it was her, I ignored these calls as well.

After my little one was squeaky clean again, I dried her off and got her ready. Then I grabbed everything we needed and we made our way to the arena where Roman was already waiting for us.

It was only a few minutes' walk with the stroller. Clem and I enjoyed the fresh air and the sun. It wasn't long before we arrived and were already expected.

"Hi Jimmy!" I said.

"Hi girls. How's it going? Roman's in the ring right now. He asked me to bring you in. Hi Miss Clementine. How's the young lady?" he replied and then gave me a quick hug before crouching down to greet the baby too.

It was always one of the cutest thing imaginable. Clem tilted her head to the side and put her finger in her mouth as she looked at him. Almost as if she didn't know what to make of the resemblance to her daddy. It took her a few minutes, but eventually she understood that it couldn't be the worst thing if he looked like Roman.

She stretched out her arms and let Jimmy pick her up. We went inside together. The security check didn't take long. We met a lot of people on the way to the ring. It had been quite intimidating the first few times. But now I didn't mind anymore. Everyone was nice to us... well, almost everyone. Of course, there were one or two who eyed us suspiciously.

"Hey! There you are at last!" said Roman as soon as he saw us.

He jumped out of the ring and came towards us. Clem was so excited as soon as she saw him. She was kicking like crazy so Jimmy had a hard time holding her. 

"Hi Mini Miss! Come to Dada. Can you say Dada?" he asked her excitedly.

Ever since she had said Mama for the first time, he had been waiting more or less patiently for her to say Dada. But so far without success.

"Mama!" Clem said, giggling.

"Yes, that's your mama. Hi baby girl... I've missed you." he said to me and gave me a loving kiss.

I had to stifle a laugh because I knew he was suppressing a sigh.

"Hi Ro. Missed you more. How's it going?" I asked, wiping a little lip gloss from his full lips.

"Just finished. You have good timing." he replied as he wrapped his free arm around me.

A few minutes later, we were sitting together in the ring and watching Clementine crawl back and forth between us. She was having big fun, that's for sure. And she loved to pull herself up on Roman. She had been doing this a lot recently, especially because she liked to pull on his ears.

Right now she was pulling herself up on me. I held her little hands as she looked in Roman's direction.

"Come to daddy, Clem. I know you can," he encouraged her to take her first step.

"Do you want to go to Daddy? C'mon... Try it." I said.

She hesitantly took the first step and let go of one of my hands. Then she took another step in his direction. She wobbled a bit, but still walked purposefully towards him.

"You did it, Mini Miss!" cheered the proud father as she stumbled into his waiting arms.

And as if she knew exactly what a big deal it was, Clem clapped her hands enthusiastically. Roman lifted her into the air while the little girl laughed.

"Good job! Such a big girl!" he praised her and then covered her face with lots of little kisses.

I slid a little closer to my family so that I could give her a kiss too. Of course, I was also proud of every milestone of my baby... even if I had to admit that it was a little too fast for me.

"Mommy and Daddy love you Mini Miss. You have no idea." Roman said quietly to her as she pinched his nose.

*****

"I can't believe she can walk already." I said a little melancholically as we walked through the corridors backstage to get to Ro's locker room.

"I know what you mean... It seems like yesterday that she was born." he replied and gave me a kiss on the hair while he held me in his arms and I pushed the stroller.

Just then, my phone rang again. I looked to see who it was and couldn't help but groan.

"God... stop calling me...." I grumbled.

"Give me that... That's enough now. You'll get back to them when you want to." Roman said and took the phone from my hand.

He answered the call. But after just a few words, he fell silent. I couldn't make any sense of what he said next. I couldn't interpret his facial expression either. However, he looked damn serious.

"What's wrong?" I asked anxiously as my heart began to beat faster.

"Maybe you should sit down..." Roman then said.