Title: Downtime
Featuring: Jacob McKail
Date: 10/04/2011
Location: New York

Downtime
New York
5th April 2011

Lying on the grass and basking in the warm and reassuring sun, McKail closed his eyes and smiled as the gentle wind caressed his skin. It was almost as if the fine weather was whisking all his troubles away. Almost.

Elle was sitting next to him reading a book, one hand clamping down against the base of its spine and the other massaging his head, through tangled locks of unkempt hair. Couple of times her fingers got so intertwined in his thick, black man she got her hand stuck and had to struggle free like a fish caught in a trawlerman's net. Nearly tore his damn head off each time.

It was good to be back home. The PRIME tour was interesting and eye-opening and all, but both he and Elle were getting pretty damn sick of it. Especially India. Hell, both their guts were still trying to recover from that little culinary corner of hell. Got to the point where he had to sit his ass down in ice at the end of every day. Curry was nice and all, but what he was eating wasn't curry. Couldn't have been. Tasted more like molten lava. At one point McKail thought his face was actually melting. The Indian boys in the restaurant laughed their asses off at the sight of it too. At first McKail thought they were fans, but truth was they were just ready and waiting for the show. Seems like McKail wasn't their first victim. Bastards.

“It's like he doesn't even realise we're back,” Elle said, her attention wrenched away from her cheap romance novel and her gaze somewhere off into the distance.

McKail followed her gaze to see her son, Mikey, playing soccer across the park with some of his friends. Elle felt guilty. She'd been away with McKail on his extravagant and exotic wrestling tour and it'd killed her every single day that she couldn't take him along. It was best for Mikey if he stayed behind with her mother. She didn't want to take him out of school and didn't think he'd be able to cope with all the travelling and general rigours of life on the road. She was probably right to do so too.

“Sure he does,” McKail reassured her, gently rubbing her back, “but kids'll be kids, right?”

She smiled. “Boys'll be boys more like.”

He felt bad for her. If weren't for him, she wouldn't have missed the last couple of weeks of Mikey's life and she wouldn't be feeling all guilty like she was. Guess she thought he needed her more that her son did. Crazy rationalisation, but that's women for you. Maybe she was worried he wouldn't function without her by his side. More likely she was concerned that he'd hit the bottle hard again as soon as he got bored in a foreign country with nothing much to do. Again, she was probably right.

“Maybe you oughta not come to China with me,” McKail said, studying her reaction.

She turned to him with a quizzical look spread across her face. “You don't want me there?”

“Ain't that,” he lied, “it's just I don't think being away from Mikey's good for you.”

And it was a lie, in part at least. Truth was, McKail didn't want her with him to experience all the shit he had to go through. All the bullshit wrestling politics that were all of a sudden taking over his life thanks to Almasy being a girl about a little revenge. He also didn't want her seeing him as angry as he was.

Elle was there for it all. She was standing right next to him when Almasy started this whole thing off. She stood by all helpless why a sucker punching son of bitch attacked him from behind and went all dirty when the tide of the scuffle wasn't flowing his way. She was there when McKail exacting his revenge and he could only feel shame when she saw him angry beyond all comprehension. He was like an animal and it wasn't a feeling he'd like to replicate.

And was only going to get worse. McKail saw the signs a mile away. No matter kind of legal bindings Almasy had constricted him under, this was far from over.

“Maybe you're right,” Elle agreed. “Mikey needs me here. It's the right thing to do.”

“I reckon so,” McKail said, kissing her cheek. “But that don't mean I ain't gonna miss ya though.”

“Yeah,” Elle began, “just so long as you behave yourself.”

McKail grinned. “The hell am I gonna get up to in China?”

“Don't think I ain't heard about them opium dens and whatnot,” she chuckled, elbowing him in the ribs. “I got your number mister.”

“Opium dens? Those are still around? Interesting...”

Elle chuckled again for a time, but after a minute or two the laughter was gone - only a concerned expression remained. “But seriously, Jake. You don't need the booze anymore. This tour is the final obstacle to prove this to yourself -”

“And to you,” McKail interjected. “That's almost as important to me.”

Elle smiled and caressed his cheek. “I know, Jake. I know. Just promise me one thing okay?”

“What's that?”

“Kick Almasy's ass for me!”

McKail grinned. “No doubt, girl. No doubt.”
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