Glory Braddock vs. Syren

[Braddock]

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January 15th, 2022
Boston, Massachusetts
Off Camera
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It has been one day removed from Breakdown, an event that was definitely bittersweet for ‘The British Bombshell’ Glory Braddock. On a positive note, it was announced that at Body, Heart, and Soul she would get a match that she has been wanting for quite awhile; a match against an opponent she views as a threat, not just to her run towards a world championship but a threat to Supreme Championship Wrestling itself. That threat is known as Syren. A few years ago at Rise To Greatness Glory Braddock first did battle against Syren in the main event, utilizing her Trios Contract that year to insert herself into the main event making it a triple threat with the primary goal of ensuring that Syren would lose the World Championship. But Glory didn’t win the SCW World Championship that night, Alistaire Allocco did; now Braddock has a chance to have Syren all to herself, one on one. Defeating Syren at Body, Heart, and Soul would go a long way to guaranteeing Braddock a future shot at the SCW World Championship. Unfortunately Breakdown would not end on a positive note for Glory. Kandis cheated her way to victory over The British Bombshell. Glory had the bottom rope to break the pin but Kandis pulled the hand away; Glory expected such shortcuts from Kandis but the loss doesn’t sting any less. Braddock wanted to walk into Body, Heart, and Soul with momentum behind her. Now she doesn’t have that luxury.

Lucky for Braddock, she had plenty of time to think and contemplate her next move on the overnight flight from Chicago, Illinois to Boston, Massachusetts. The British Bombshell is flying to Boston to visit with her biological mother, Mary Ford. Glory and her mother at one point had a close relationship. But that close relationship ended when Glory was just fifteen when her father, Glenn Braddock, suffered a career ending back injury that forced him into retirement. Glenn would immerse himself into his work training future wrestlers, including his daughter Glory. But Mary could not handle the life of being married to Glenn Braddock. It was more like being married to wrestling. She fully expected him to devote more time to her since he could no longer wrestle but he still managed to find a way to devote more time to wrestling than he did to his family. He didn’t even treat his daughter like family but rather he treated her as a student. Mary chose to leave Glenn. An unfortunate side effect of leaving Glenn meant the custody battle for Glory Braddock. Glenn won full custody in court and as a result Mary didn’t even see her daughter for years. The separation of Glory from her mother caused a rift, the two grew distant. In fact, it wasn’t until her father died that Glory Braddock decided to even attempt to mend the rift between her and her mother.

The attempt to form a relationship with her biological mother has been met with mediocre success at best. They are on good terms but Mary and her daughter still live rather far away from one another. When she’s not wrestling Glory calls Miami, Florida home but Mary spends her time in Boston, Massachusetts with her nieces, Glory’s cousins Angelica Jones and Kayla Jones-Snow. Mary has a close relationship with Angelica and Kayla. It is rather odd that she would be closer to her nieces than she would be to her own daughter. But Glory has a reason to be in Boston more frequently than she usually would; she is a silent partner in the modeling agency owned and operated by her cousin Kayla Jones-Snow. Glory will visit Kayla to keep tabs on her and the modeling agency and while she’s there she can visit Mary and at least attempt to reform that bond, that relationship they once had.

Glory Braddock is in the living room of her mother’s home in Boston, Massachusetts. It is much more modest than what Glory is used to living in. The truth is, Glory didn’t used to live in opulence, either. She used to live much more modestly, much like her mother and father. This small, plaid patterned sofa is comfortable enough for Braddock’s taste as she sits with her feet tucked up underneath her. She is wearing a pink t-shirt and silky pink pajama bottoms. Her long blonde hair hangs straight and unrestrained to past the shoulders. Mary enters the room with two glasses with her. She hands her daughter the glass with red wine and she keeps a glass with a clear liquid for herself. Mary, with a big smile on her face, sighs and sits down next to her daughter.

“Wine for you…” she then sips her own clear liquid “...and vodka for me.”

“I never understood your fascination for vodka, mom.” Braddock remarks stoically.

“I am Russian, Gloria.” She chuckles. “Need I say more?”

“That stuff will kill you.”

“My dear, moderation is the key to everything.” Mary holds up her glass of vodka. “Yes, this will kill me, but only if I abuse it. Your wine that you love so much will kill you if you abused it. It is called alcoholism, Gloria.”

“Well I’m not an alcoholic so you don’t need to worry about that.” Braddock says as she sips her wine. “Are we seriously going to argue about alcoholism all night or can we try to enjoy one another’s company?”

Mary chuckles a little as she sets down her vodka. “Fair enough. I am glad you came by, Gloria. We do not spend nearly enough time together. I only wish you brought my precious grandchildren with you. Where are Melinda and Dawn anyway?”

“Melinda is overseas competing on the European circuits. Dawn is with Kurt. They are on their way ahead of me to Detroit for Body, Heart, and Soul.”

“Body, Heart, and Soul?” Mary’s voice has an inquisitive tone to it and her face illustrates her confusion.


“It is the next SCW wrestling event. I am competing that night and I need to win.”

“Need to win, do you?” Mary shakes her head with a sense of disappointment in her voice. “I have heard that many times before from your father.”

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“Oh I most definitely understand. I spent twenty years married to your father and watching him throw his body, his life, into the sport, and eventually sacrificed his health to it. I then spent time watching your cousins, Angelica and Kayla, do the same thing. I have watched loved ones sacrifice so much for what they believe in, sacrifice everything for a win. So yes, I understand.”

“This is about more than just a win, mom. If it were just about winning it wouldn’t be a problem.” Glory sips her wine one more time before setting her glass down “I was there too, if you recall. I remember how dad was, how he threw everything into his craft. Everything to him was a must win. Every match for him was a match he needed to win. He went into every match with that mentality. It became unhealthy, not just for him but for the family. It led to you and him breaking up. One thing I can safely say, I do not have that kind of unhealthy obsession with wrestling. I do not have that kind of mindset. I do want to win every match, sure, but not every match is must win. But this one at Body, Heart, and Soul…” Glory nods her head emphatically “...it IS a must win match.”

Mary sighs deeply. “I will take your word for it. Why is this match so important to you, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Two reasons; first, if I win then I could easily make a case for a World Title Match. But second, and most importantly, I need to keep this particular person as far away from the world title picture as humanly possible. And if that means beating her at Body, Heart, and Soul then that’s what I will do. She is a con artist and a liar, I have to keep her away from the world title.”

“Why must you keep her from the title?”

Braddock rolls her eyes. “Dad would have understood, you obviously don’t.”

“Gloria…”

“Look, mom, maybe we shouldn’t talk wrestling? I mean, it never worked for you and dad, and I doubt it’ll work for us.”

Her maternal instincts tell Mary that her daughter needs to talk about this more even though she denies it. But at the same time she recognizes that her relationship with Glenn deteriorated because of wrestling. Perhaps it is best if they avoid the subject of wrestling for now, especially if Mary and her daughter are to reform that bond that they once had? Mary sighs and nods her head.

“Well, what else has been going on in your life then?”

Satisfied that they have moved on from wrestling talk, Glory picks up her wine and starts sipping it again. “Kayla and I are working together. Did she tell you?”

“No she didn’t.” Mary says, her interest clearly peaked. “What are you two doing?”

“She needed my help a few months ago with her modeling agency and so I became a silent partner.”

“I didn’t know you were interested in modeling.” Mary states. Braddock shakes her head.

“I’m not. In fact, I know nothing about modeling. But I did want to help my family, so when I learned Kayla was having financial difficulties I decided to support her agency using my company’s resources.” Braddock sighs deeply. “And I also met someone at the agency.”

“Who?”

“A young woman named Fiona. Fiona Osbourne.” Glory sips her wine. “Kayla thinks I should mentor her. But I’m not so sure.”

“Why not? What’s wrong with the young lady?”

“She has some…baggage.”

“Don’t we all have some baggage?”

“Yes, but Fiona’s baggage is rather difficult to deal with. Do you remember what happened to Kayla after my aunt Kelly was murdered?”

Mary winces. This is a very painful memory. She nods her head. “Yes…” her voice trails off “...I was still overseas in England. And your father refused to let me get involved. Had I been tough enough to stand up to him perhaps things would have been different. Perhaps….”

“It wasn’t your fault.” Glory reaches out and places a hand on her mother’s shoulder. “But yes, Aunt Kelly was murdered and Kayla ended up in a foster home. Her foster father was abusive and forced her into modeling at a young age so he could exploit her beauty for his own profit. Fiona is in a similar situation. Her parents are out of the picture and Fiona ended up in foster care. The foster father got her involved in modeling so that he could exploit her. Lucky for Fiona she is now of age and her foster father no longer has a legal hold of her. But that isn’t stopping him from trying.”

“He’s still harassing the poor girl?” Mary asks. Glory nods her head.

“Yes…and Kayla is worried that Fiona won’t have the courage to stand up to him. Kayla wants me to mentor Fiona, to take her in so that she won’t have to stand up to him.”

Mary appears to be very distraught. She wipes a tear from her eye. “Gloria, I recall that Kayla was sexually abused by her foster father. You are telling me that Fiona is suffering from a similar situation that Kayla suffered from. Does that mean that…” Mary cannot even finish the sentence, the thought is too painful. But Glory already knows what is going on and shrugs her shoulders.

“I have no idea. Kayla didn’t say.”

“Still, Fiona is clearly in trouble. Maybe you should do something?”

“No, absolutely not.” Glory says, vehemently shaking her head. “Nothing good can from me helping her.”

“How could you say that? Helping people is what you do. It’s…”

“You don’t get it.” Glory says out of frustration. “Fiona is currently overseas training at dad’s…my wrestling school.”

“Wait a second, she is at the school? She wants to be a wrestler?” Mary asks quizzically. Glory nods her head.

“Yes. Apparently Fiona adores me. I was her inspiration. She wants to break away from modeling and get into wrestling. That’s her career choice. I helped her get in at my school but what Kayla is asking me to do, taking Fiona under my wing and mentoring her, that’d be like singling her out. I do not want to single any particular person out as special in my school. I do not want to show favoritism.”

“I may not know much about Fiona or what’s going on but I do know that you help people. That has always been your best character trait. What could it hurt to take this young girl who clearly adores you, and help her out? I mean, obviously she has no family that could help her. You could be her family.”

Braddock sighs deeply. As much as she hates to admit it, her mother is right. Fiona needs help. She needs family. “You’re right, mom. Fiona has no one she can rely upon. Her biological father, the best I can tell, abandoned her. Her mother is dead. Her foster father is an abusive, controlling, drunk. Fiona needs help but she doesn’t just need a mentor, she needs a family. I’m just not sure I have the time or the ability to be that person in Fiona’s life.”

“Yes, she does need a family.” Mary points at her daughter. “You could be that family, you know?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean adopt her. Become the mother she has lost, the mother she needs. Then you would truly be giving her what she needs…a family, not just a mentor but a family.”

“That’s bloody ridiculous.” Glory shakes her head. “I cannot fill in as a mother figure for Fiona. Besides, I doubt Fiona would even accept it.”

“It isn’t ridiculous. After all, you eventually accepted and even embraced the idea of Aphrodite Noel as your adoptive mother; to a point that, for many years, you wouldn’t even recognize me at all.”

“It’s not the same…” a tear forms in Glory’s eyes. She doesn’t like being reminded about how she emotionally hurt her mother by agreeing to acknowledge Aphrodite as her mother. On the same token, at one point she refused to acknowledge Aphrodite just to maintain power within her company, and that emotionally hurt Aphrodite as well. She doesn’t like being reminded of this, but Mary persists.

“Isn’t it? Just take Fiona in. Let her live with you, officially or unofficially as your adopted daughter. That’s all she needs. She needs a family. She needs…”

IT ISN’T THE SAME!” Glory snaps back angrily, shouting at her mother at the top of her lungs. “What Aphrodite and I have is different! You cannot ask me to do to Fiona what Aphrodite did for me! You cannot ask me to do it and I won’t! I won’t! I…” Glory stops her rant as she notices the color slowly start to leave her mother’s face.

“Glory…”

“Mom? What’s wrong?” Glory starts to get frightened as her mother clutches at her chest. Mary then falls over off of the sofa and onto the floor. Glory drops to the floor and checks on her mother.

“Mom?! Talk to me! Mom?! MOM!!!!” Braddock quickly leaves her mother’s side and rushes over to a telephone. She picks it up and immediately dials 911. “...HELP! Send an ambulance! My mom, I think she just…I think she just had a heart attack!”

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January 15th, 2022
Boston, Massachusetts
Off Camera
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When Glory Braddock made the flight from Chicago to Boston she fully expected to spend time bonding with her mother. She didn’t anticipate getting into a heated conversation with her mother, she didn’t anticipate snapping at her mother, and she definitely didn’t anticipate accidentally giving her mother a heart attack. But that is exactly what has happened and now The British Bombshell is spending the remainder of her saturday night in Massachusetts General Hospital by her mother’s bedside.

It was quite a severe heart attack and while Mary is certainly not out of the woods yet, she is at least stable and Glory is thankful for that much. She is also thankful for the fact that she is joined here by her cousins, Angelica and Kayla Jones. All three women are in the hospital room by Mary’s bedside. Glory is on her mother’s right side while Angelica and Kayla stand by her left side. Angelica and Kayla are doing their best to maintain the appearance of strength for the sake of their cousin. It was just a couple of years ago that Glory suffered from the emotional and mental torment that the death of her father, Glenn Braddock, took on her. Now her mother is hanging on by a thread.

“I’m sorry, mom…” tears are flowing down her cheek. Braddock has been crying for quite some time now. She is nearly out of tears to shed. The guilt is overwhelming because she blames herself for putting her mother here, she believes she is to blame for her mother’s heart attack. Kayla, though, shakes her head.

“It isn’t your fault, Glory.”

“Isn’t it?” Glory looks up at her cousin with a distraught look upon her lovely face. “Mom was just trying to tell me something. She was just trying to help me…and I didn’t want to listen. I threw it back in her face. I lost my temper and I shouted and…” she looks back down at her mother’s lifeless form “...her heart just couldn’t take it.”

“We all lose our tempers from time to time. It’s normal.” Angelica chimes in. A smirk forms upon her face. “I mean, my sister broke a very expensive lamp just because the Pats lost.”

“Fucking Buffalo…” Kayla growls. Despite the situation even Glory cannot help but chuckle a little about this. Angelica grins and nods her head.

“A smile and a laugh; that’s a little better. Trust me, your mom will be fine.”

“I hope so. If she dies because of me I wouldn’t…I couldn’t forgive myself.”

“Stop it.” Kayla snaps at Glory. “It wasn’t your fault. Your mom already had heart problems and you know it. Something like this was bound to happen with or without you. You just happened to be there when it happened and thankfully you were. Because she might not have survived had it not been for you.”

The British Bombshell does not immediately answer. She knows what her cousins are trying to do but she just cannot bring herself to believe them. Her mother came close to death thanks to her. She brought about this heart attack. The guilt is overwhelming. Braddock’s self-blame is brought to an end when the door to the hospital room opens. A man dressed all in black wearing a clerical collar walks in. All three women smile politely at the arrival of the family’s priest, Fr. Fitzgibbons.

“Thank you for coming, Father.” Kayla says, greeting the priest with a warm grin.

“Of course, anything for a family that has been such a staple of my parish for so long.” Father Fitzgibbons is the priest of the local catholic church where the Jones family have attended for nearly their entire lives. Mary herself has been attending this church for her entire life. Glory Braddock only recently converted to Catholicism. The priest approaches Glory and places a hand on her shoulder. “How are you holding up, Ms. Braddock?”

“Not well, Father.”

“Your mother will be fine. I assure you.”

“I just feel like I am responsible for this in some way. Especially considering how I yelled at her. I gave her this heart attack. I…”

“No you didn’t.” The priest insists as he shakes his head.

“You say that, my cousins say that, but I just can’t bring myself to believe it. She was trying to help me when I lost my temper and shouted.”

“What was she trying to tell you…if you don’t mind telling me, of course…”

Braddock considers telling the priest but then she takes a quick glance at her cousin Kayla Jones-Snow and decides against it. It was Kayla who brought up the idea of Glory mentoring Fiona in the first place. When Glory told Mary about the idea it was Mary’s persistence, her encouraging of Glory to not only mentor but to take on Fiona as an adopted daughter, that caused Glory to snap and lose her temper. She isn’t sure how Kayla would react to all of this. And this isn’t a conversation she wants to have with Kayla right now. Glory shakes her head.

“I’d rather not say, Father. I apologize.”

“Don’t apologize. Some things are best kept private. But if I may offer some advice, perhaps one way to honor your mother would be to take whatever it was she was trying to tell you and think about it. Whatever she was trying to tell you she probably had her reason, I’m sure she thought it was important. So consider what she had said to you in those final moments before the heart attack.”

Braddock nods her head. “I will, Father.”

“Excellent. Now let us pray…” the priest turns towards Mary. Glory, Kayla, and Angelica all bow their heads. “...God our Father, your Son accepted our sufferings to teach us the virtue of patience in human illness. Hear the prayers we offer for our sick sister Mary. May all who suffer pain, illness, or disease realize that they have been chosen to be saints and know that they are joined to Christ in his sufferings for the salvation of the world. Lord Jesus, You willingly gave yourself up to death so that all people might be saved. Listen to our prayers; look with love on your daughter Mary. We pray this in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit…Amen.”

“Amen.” Glory, Kayla, and Angelica all cross themselves and say amen in unison. The priest begins again with another prayer but Glory is no longer paying attention. She is still distraught over her mother. She is hopeful that she can pull through this and recover. But she is also thinking about what the priest said. Her mother was just trying to help her, she was just trying to offer some advice and Glory didn’t want to listen. But maybe she should listen? Kayla first suggested that Glory take Fiona under her wing, Glory’s mother Mary endorsed the idea, so maybe Glory should take on Fiona as a special project? What harm could it do?

“Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death, amen.”

“Amen.” Glory says quietly.