A Starr is Born (finale)
Reworked by Wendy C from
a story written by Mistress X.

I didn't wrestle very much over the next few weeks, instead playing valet, arm candy to be brought to the ring and cheer on my man in this art imitating life love triangle we were airing on the show. I didn't mind so much. With no time for a title feud of my own it extended my title reign well past when I was supposed to drop the belt back to Angel. She was pissed of course, but what else is new? My outfit got a little skimpier as a result, I didn't mind that either.

The best part was that I got to be seen with Luke in public now, after all, it was part of the angle. And I got to nurse his bruises every week. Eventually the storyline wrapped up, Luke won his belt back, I dropped mine and when his contract lapsed Aki didn't re-sign. He went on to be a third stringer in some Japanese fed about half the size of the NDW.

"I'm going to beat you at this one of these days!" I called as I desperately mashed the buttons on the controller.

"Never happen," Cass assured me.

Violet, Cassidy, and I were sitting on the couch playing a three-way-dance match on the new NDW video game. Each of us playing as ourselves, and Cassidy was thrashing us. I wasn't so sure about my character model, nor was I sure about the jiggle physics. Yeah the girls got a little play, but they weren't made of tapioca. "I think we should double team her," Vie suggested.

"Deal," I agreed.

"Oh no you don't" Cassidy cried out. It was then we heard a small engine pull up outside, followed by a knock at the bus door.

"Pause" I announced and got up to check the door. Outside was a guy in a crew’s polo and a golf cart filled with numbered bags.

"Fan mail ladies," he announced, and handed off one of the bags to me.

"Thanks Ned," I said, to which he tipped his imaginary hat and got back in his cart.

I walked back to the couch to hear the TV announce "One... Two... Three. Winner!"

"Hey! I said 'pause.'" I insisted.

"You snooze you lose," rebutted Cass as she crossed her hands behind her head.

"I tried to stop her," Violet pouted.

"Anyway, fan mail," I said sitting down and unstringing the mail bag. It was mostly little white envelopes, but there was the occasional small package and other thing. We had a lot of homemade nick knacks sitting around. We sifted through it, grabbing out whatever and passing along what didn't have our names on it. We'd done it a thousand times.

"This one's for you," said Violet passing me a tall manila envelope. "Sweet, somebody sent me a new cowgirl hat," she cheered.

"You wash that thing before you put it on your head," Cassidy insisted.

I looked at the mailing address on the envelope. It was for me alright. 'Sam Starr' was written right there. I turned it over and my heart jumped up into my throat. "Oh my God," I croaked.

"Oh dear Lord," Cassidy added as she looked down on it.

In big black permanent marker was scrawled the words 'To Casey Blaze.'

I opened it up and inside was a stack of photos of both versions of me. There were foggy close ups of my tattoo, original and altered. The most damning thing though was a set of Xeroxed court documents, concerning James Phoenix’s trial. They were public record and they proved who I was, at least that Casey Blaze had been transformed. It hadn't occurred to me that sooner or later some law nerd/wrestling fan would put two and two together. "Oh Jesus," I moaned.

"Well what does he want?" Luke asked.

"He wants money," I answered directly. "It's right here in his note, he wants cash every time I wrestle, or he sends these to the tabloids. I'm surprised the little shit didn't ask for tickets”. We were standing behind his bus, near the arena fence where nobody could see us. "I've got one month to start paying."

"Well what are you going to do?" he asked.

"I was kind of hoping you'd have an idea Babe."

He pulled me in and hugged my back to his chest. "You gonna pay it? I can help if you need..."

"No," I said. "It's not that, it's not the money....I just didn't realize how vulnerable I was, how out in the open this is. I can pay off one twerp sure, but what happens the next time somebody figures it out and has the same idea?"

"You don't know that'll happen," he reassured me.

"It'll happen," I insisted. "Only next time he might not give me the option, he might just want the attention and go straight to some magazine or write a blog about it."

"I'll still love you," he squeezed me. "I'll love you no matter what. I just don't want to see you sad."

"You really do, don't you?" I said. "You will, even if people know who I am?"

"I know who you are Love," he said. "I don't care who or what you used to be, or who else knows, or if they care. I know who you “truly are”."

"Hmm..." I pondered. "I want to run something by you."

"Mike," I called as I barged into his office uninvited.

"What the hell do you want?" he demanded, looking up from his desk, a sandwich in his hands.

"I need a promo tonight, in the ring, about ten minutes," I explained.

"You don't dictate the schedule," he said. "That's my job."

"I did your romance triangle angle," I reminded him.

"Yeah, and that was a pain in my ass," he claimed.

"A pain in your ass that saw a two point bump in the TV ratings," I corrected. "I guarantee you this promo will have the most hits on the website of anything on there. If not, I'll work the next month for free, no gate on the pay-per-view either."

"What are you on about?" he asked, cautious curiosity showing through.

"You like the ponies Mike," I said. "Bet on this one."

"You're gonna have to give me more," he insisted.

"Okay Mike, I didn't want to play this card," I sung. "My contract guarantees me a certain amount of air-time. It would be a shame if those numbers didn't quite add up."

"You wouldn't dare," he warned.

"Test me," I said.

I knocked on the door of the studio and an AV tech opened it up. "Oh hey Sam," he said. "What's up?"

"I need to talk to Walter," I answered. "And a rush job on a tape."

My music hit over the loudspeaker, and I popped through the curtain to a roaring cheer. I walked down the ramp with deliberate purpose, not cheerful, or skipping or high-fiving as was my usual MO. I already had a microphone in my hand. I climbed up into the middle of the ring and gave a cue to kill the music. I looked out over the crowd. They were mostly hushed, save for the occasional blurb of "we love you" or a whistle. In ring promos were nothing new, nothing special, they had no idea.

"How are you doing tonight?" I requested into the mic. Only an indecipherable thunder came back. "Our general manager has graciously given me time to speak tonight, because I have something very important to announce. But first I want to tell you what kind of a wonderful audience you are and thank you for that warm reception. Not just you here tonight, but everybody watching at home as well. You've watched me wrestle and I've felt your love and I want to thank you for that too.
I've tried my best to put on a good show for you folks, and I want you to know, no matter what happens from now on, I love you."

"We love you too!" some faceless voice echoed out from the masses.

"You all know, that since I've been a part of this company, I've tried to push the women's division to new heights. And I think I've done that. I've fought for you, I've sweated for you, I've bled for you, and you all turned out for me in return! What's my name!?"

"Sam Starr!" they called, barely recognizable.

"No, my name is………….Casey Blake" I said seriously. They suddenly fell quiet save for a low rumble of confusion. "That's a shoot name that some of you might recognize as..." I pointed to the videotron above the entrance ramp, Walter in his studio took the cue, and my old music and video package played. "Casey.....Blaze," I let the soundtrack play through and gave the audience time to gather themselves.

"One year ago, you were told that Casey Blaze was forced to retire due to a previously undiagnosed, congenital heart defect," A greatest hits rip of some of my old performances played silently over the videotron. "That was a cover story. Casey.......I was dosed, without my knowledge with a powerful,
irreversible bio-mod, that altered my sex," I threw my arms out to the side and spun slowly in place. A din of unsure disarray rumbled through the crowd.

"The person who did it was charged, and convicted, and because of that, an unscrupulous individual," I turned and looked squarely into the television hard-cam, "you know who you are! was able to dig up documentation to prove it," I turned back to the live audience. "He tried to blackmail me," I announced matter-of-factly. "He was so sure, you'd hate me for what I was and what had happened to me, that I'd be so scared, I'd do whatever he wanted. Well, I'm getting out in front of it," I turned back to the hard-cam. "Deal with it scooter. I believe in all of you enough to know you won't turn your backs on me because I was the victim of a crime," I spun back to the crowd and
looked high, up into the nose-bleeds.

"I had a hell of an adventure. I learned new things, made new friends.....I fell in love.....for the first
time in my life" my voice was croaking now, tears were slipping down my face. "And I wouldn't change a minute of it. My only regret, is that I was so unsure before, so unsure of you, that I decided to deceive you instead of coming out with this earlier. Hate me for lying, hate me for who I
used to be..." I held out my arms and spun again.

"But what you see now IS who I am. Just call me Casey. Thank you," I dropped the microphone, low at my knee, and the crowd cheered. It wasn't my loudest pop by a long shot, there were a lot of confused, silent people, and a few boos, but not as many as you might think.

Of course my matches saw a drop in the TV ratings for a while, not much, but enough that Mike wanted to fire me for it. It was a good thing he couldn't. After a while though the whole thing created enough good publicity with the liberal media, that it more than made up for a few lost ticket sales and a temporary ratings lull in the middle of the show. I was their darling and what Nigel said to me all those months ago was true. Now that it was out, I was untouchable. Nobody wanted their cars on fire. Poor Lucas I think got it worse than I did.

Being my lover was a big hit to his reputation, but as his name would imply he powered through and pretty soon people were tired of giving him shit for it. He ignored them. It was the smartest thing he could have done. There's nothing that turns off attention seekers faster than getting no attention. The internet jokers held on to both of us for a while longer, but eventually they moved on to other things. We were free to live our lives and rebuild our careers. Plus, I got to use the cross-face again.

"Okay, you can look," announced Violet before I pulled my hands away from my eyes and saw my reflection in the mirror.

"My God, what have you done to it?" I asked.

"I feathered it," she said. "It looks so much nicer now that you've finally grown it out. My hair was made into these big, red swoops that branched out around my neck, and an additional leaf of if covered my left eye.

"I've got no depth perception like this," I said. "It's really impractical."

"That part of you will always be a man," said Cassidy.

"Please don't call me that," I told her. Then I spun around in front of her, the hem of my long white gown sweeping across the floor. "Does this look like a man to you?"

"Not with them titties," she answered.

I looked down and tugged at my bodice. "It does kind of create a boob shelf doesn't it?" I pondered.

"Too late to worry about that now Girl," said Cassidy. "People are already waiting on you."

"It's my prerogative to make them wait," I said. "This has to be perfect."

"Hey you guys, the people are getting impatient out here," said Dawn as she poked her head in through the door.

"I told you," said Cassidy.

"You guys go ahead," I said. "I'll be there in just a minute. I have to come out last anyway."

"Just don't make us wait," Cassidy insisted as she lifted the hem of her pastel blue dress off the floor and walked outside.

"Hey, veil," I snapped my fingers at Violet as she followed.

"Oh right," she said, and she hurried to a little round table in the corner of the room. There she produced a headband from it. She handed it to me and headed for the door adding "Don't forget to bring the bouquet. It's right there by the mirror."

I affixed the headband to my crown and threw the attached shroud back over my neck. I took a deep breath, steeled myself, took one final look, picked up the bundle of flowers and headed for the door.

I exited into the foyer where I was met by a dark haired woman - Luke's cousin Mona, and her little girl. "Are you ready?" Mona asked.

"As I'll ever be," I said and peeked around the corner, where I saw several rows of filled seats. "I'm not as nervous in front of 50,000 people as I am in front of 50," I sighed. "Okay, let's get this show on the road."

"Okay Sweetie," Mona said taking a knee in front of the little girl. "You know what to do right?"

The girl nodded.

"Okay, don't go until the music plays. I'll be right there," Mona stepped around the corner, and I saw her give a thumb’s up signal across the room and then duck into the back row of seats. At that sign, organ music began to play. The little girl looked up at me, and I tipped my head in the direction of the adjacent hall. She picked up her little basket and headed in. I took one last deep breath, pulled the veil down over my head and followed.

I held the flowers closely in front of myself and walked slowly and deliberately to the music, stepping over the carpet of flower petals the child left in front of me. On either side of me were rows of seats, one side more full than the other, I didn't have much in the way of family. In front of me were eight standing people. Four well-dressed men, three of which I barely knew, the other a very handsome human mountain hardly contained within a rented tuxedo. Across from them were Cass, Vie, and
Dawn, all dressed in matching pastel blues, and in the middle was a man in black vestments. I made my way down the aisle and stood right in front of Lucas. Even through my veil I could see his cheek subtly quivering. "Don't crack up on me now big guy," I whispered.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," began the man in black. "We are gathered here today to see these two wedded in holy matrimony. If there are any among you who have reason why these two should not be wed, speak now or forever hold your peace."

Luke scanned the room giving his most threatening glare, which coaxed out a subdued chuckle from the witnesses.

"Then let us proceed," said the man in black. "Do you, Lucas Darrow, take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife, to live together in holy matrimony, to love her, honor her, keep her and comfort her, both in sickness and in health, while forsaking all others for as long as you both shall live?"

"I do" Luke croaked.

"And do you, Casey Blake, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband, to live together in holy matrimony, to love him, to honor him, to keep him, and comfort him in sickness and in health, forsaking all others, for as long as you both shall live?"

"I do" I said.

"Then repeat after me. I, Lucas, take you Casey, to be my wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better and for worse, for richer and poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do us part."

Luke choked it out after each segment. The big baby!

"I Casey, take you Lucas, to be my husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better and for worse, for richer and poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, 'till death do us part."

I repeated it.

"Please exchange the rings."

Luke took a small golden band from a nearby pillowed podium and recited. "I give you this ring as a pledge and token of our constant faith and love," and he slipped it onto my finger.

I took the larger ring and repeated. "I give you this ring as a pledge and token of our constant faith and love," and I put it on his finger to stay.

"Then by the authority vested in me by the Church, the state, and our Lord God, I pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the bride."

Luke lifted the cover from my face, looked down at me for a moment, and then stooped, and kissed me. We got quite a pop from the audience for that spot. That was followed by a lot of congratulating and drinking and cutting of a cake, which I had to force the big lug to eat.

Fortunately Jerry was there to assure him it was okay. Nigel seemed the most torn up out of everyone. That is until I told him this didn't mean I would stop wrestling. I would still go by Casey Blaze in the ring, and Luke and I would just tape our fingers, because despite not depicting ourselves as married on the show, we weren't taking off those rings ever again. I did make sure to demand he negotiate a stipulation be added to my contract for no more romantic angles though. We took our pictures and danced the rest of the day away and for as amazingly graceful as he is in the ring, Luke sure had two left feet on the dance floor.

I did better in heels, and he was leading. At the end of the reception one of the guys present did the job and threw himself on my garter, and on the other end I created a hell of a brawl when I tossed the bouquet. Violet won that rumble.

I came out of the bathroom wearing a set of Calvin Klein underwear riding up my butt and barely holding in my boobs, my head was wrapped up in a towel. I saw Luke lying on the bed in nothing but his boxers watching the TV. "What happened to those briefs I got you?" I questioned him.

"They were a little tight on me," he said as he looked over.

"I know," I said. "That's why I bought them for you." I climbed up onto the bed and straddled his stomach, I lifted my hands up and grabbed the towel. "You ready for this? You know this wasn't my idea?"

"I know, Gabby insisted on it," he said. "Let's see it."

"Ta-da!" I pulled the towel away and golden locks cascaded down around my shoulders, bright pink streaks scattered here and there. "Did I do a good job? It took me forever to grow this out I'd hate to ruin it."

He looked up at me like a starving man looks at a T-bone steak, and I suddenly felt something firm press against my butt. "You look amazing" he said, and he pulled me down into a kiss. "Of course, maybe I'm the wrong person to judge. You could shave bald and glue a taxidermied rat to your head and I'd still think you were beautiful."

"Oh, that's sweet," I mocked. Then I looked up at the mirror in the headboard, and fluffed my hair a little. It did look okay, really novel in how different it was.

"Mom called again today," he said.

"Oh, I'll never guess what she wanted," I said, still looking myself over.

"She wanted to know when we were going to give her a grandchild," we both said at once, me more jeeringly than he.

"You tell her I worked too hard for these abs to give them up just yet," I pointed to my stomach and flexed my own little washboard. "Besides, I've still got a few more years in the ring first. And speaking of..... I got a call of my own yesterday."

"Oh yeah?" he said. "About what?"

"Oh, about someone becoming a two time Ladies Wrestling Champion next month," I answered coyly.

"That's great!" he said cheerfully. "Congratulations, you deserve it more than anyone."

"Maybe," I said. "But I accepted with the condition that Cassidy get a title match, and be considered to win sometime in the future."

"That was really nice of you. She deserves it too."

"Oh, and about that other thing we were just talking about..." I leaned over him, running my hands over his broad chest, and I pecked him on the lips. "One day babe, I promise."

I made one last look over of my gear as Angel's music played. My star pattern boots were laced, my pink wrist tape was snug and my two piece vinyl top and trunks weren't riding up too much. I checked my hair one last time in a nearby hanging mirror.

"Nervous?" asked Cassidy.

"This ain't my first rodeo," I told her.

"Good. Don't mess this up because I want that title match you promised," she declared.

"Don't sweat it, I'm a pro. I got this far didn't I?"

"On a second attempt," she said.

"I guess so," I conceded. "But I'm going to give it my best." My music hit, I shook loose one last time, I kissed my left index finger and pressed it to my lucky butterfly tattoo, and I ripped open the curtain. The crowd went wild.

Epilogue

I knelt against the ring apron looking up as the girls took turns running the ropes. "Okay Mandy," I said. "Make sure you hit the ropes square, you're coming in too sideways when you make contact. I don't want you hurting yourself. Look at what Wednesday is doing."

"Yes Coach," Mandy huffed.

Wednesday hit the ropes flush. "See," I said, "see how both her shoulder blades are hitting at the same time? I want you to do it like that. Okay, that's it for the day girls, I got to lock up," I announced as I pushed my way back to my feet. "I want you all to practice your promos for an hour in the mirror tonight, and I'll see you next week. In the meantime remember..."

"Always work the left," they sang in unison.

"That's right," I waddled away from the ring, readjusting the scrunchie around my red again ponytail as I went. I stepped into my office and looked at the five replica belts hanging on the wall. Luke had gotten me one for each of my title reigns. I picked up my purse and my keys and turned towards the door, where Wednesday stood with a piece of paper in her hand. "Is that what I think it is?" I asked.

She skipped over, threw her arms around me, and hugged me. "I got accepted by CCE!" she cheered.

"Hey, congratulations!" I said, holding her at arm’s length. "That's a good fed. You work as hard over there as you do in this gym and you'll be working for NDW in no time."

"I didn't think I'd make it," she almost cried.

"Hey, you're my golden girl," I told her. "I don't know what I'm going to do without YOU around to show the other girls the ropes for me. For the next few months anyway," I put my hand on my belly and gently tapped the 'Baby on Board' T-shirt I was wearing.

"You're the best Mrs. Darrow," she said. "Girls come from all around to learn from you, you've got plenty to pick from."

"Hey, I'll tell you what," I turned to my desk and quickly scrawled a phone number on a piece of paper. "You give this guy a call," I handed it to her. "His name is Nigel Cullen, he has all the contacts with the big feds, you tell him I sent you, and he'll take you to the top. And if he gives you any trouble, you just call me, and I'll sort him out."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she hopped in place. "Oh! I totally forgot to ask!"

"Yeah?"

"I uh... I kinda never settled on a finishing move," she said. "I was wondering... would you mind if I... used the cross-face?"

My mouth curled into an involuntary grin. "It's yours."

"Oh my Gawd, thank you so much! I've got to go tell everybody!" she hugged me again.

"Not so tight, I submit, I submit," I cried. She kissed me on the cheek and then ran out of my office without another word.

I gathered my things, hit the breakers, locked the doors, got into my SUV, plugged in my phone, and started the engine. I was barely on my way when the phone rang.

"Answer Phone," I pronounced.

"Hey there," came a beautiful manly voice on the other end.

"What's up Love?" I said.

"Guess who's getting to go home for a couple of weeks?" Luke asked.

"Umm... Echelon," I teased.

"Echelon is a punk with a lot of style and no substance," he said.

"Typical green Indie kid," I said. "So when are you coming in?"

"Two more days," he answered.

I squealed like an excited teenager. The second trimester libido bump had me starving.

"I can't wait to see how big you've gotten," he added.

"I won't disappoint you," I said, again tapping my belly.

"I was thinking we can call him Blake, after you," he said.

"I hate to burst your bubble Love, but it's a girl," I informed him.

"You sure?" he questioned.

"Yes I'm sure. I told you, it's a super-power gynomorphs have."

"I thought you were kidding," he said.

"What did I predict with the Three-Count?" I quizzed.

"Two boys and a girl," he answered.

"And what did I have?"

"Two boys and a girl," he repeated.

"See?" I bragged. "Foolproof. But I think Blake is a sweet name for a girl."

"Yeah? You like it?"

"I do," I said.

"Hey, I gotta go Babe, I'll see you in a couple. Tell the Three-Count I love 'em."

"Can't wait Love, will do. Good-bye."

"Bye-bye," he said, and the call disconnected.

I pulled up to the house, put my phone in my purse, and struggled out of the car. I went in through the front door and put my purse aside. "Trina, I'm home!" I called.

"Shush!" she came around the corner wagging her finger. "Quiet. They just went down."

"Sorry," I whispered. "Where they any trouble?" I asked.

"Little Samantha was an angel" she said, tying up her straight black hair. "But the boys are terrors."

"Wait until they're older," I said. "Did last week's payment go through alright?"

"Yes Ms. Casey," she said.

"Thank you very much Trina, you're off the clock now."

"Thank you Ms. Casey," she said, and she walked past me, grabbed her coat and purse, and went out the front door.

I walked through the house and found a door cracked to a dark room. I stepped in quietly to the sound of low chimes and visions of circus animals dancing slowly across the darkened walls in the form of spinning lights. I crept over to the little wooden barred box and peeked inside. "Hey CJ, hey LJ, hey Sammi, mommy's home," I whispered. There was my favorite three-count of all time, Casey Junior, Lucas Junior, and Little Samantha. The boys were wearing matching blue jumpers, and Sammi wearing a frilly pink number with a unicorn adorned diaper underneath. They say and they claim to not know why, but gynomorphs have a slightly higher rate of multiple births.

That looked to be the case with me and the Three-Count. Although, it may have been an effect of the fertility pills I was taking at the time. CJ began to moan and suck at air, and I realized he'd lost his pacifier. "Shush, shush," I said and fed it back to him. "Don't wake up your brother and sister," They looked so much like their daddy. It was a funny thought given how soft and pudgy they were, but everybody said so. Not content with three, Luke put another one in me almost as soon as we could.

With the three brunettes, this time I was going try to get my ginger. "Good night my future tag-team champs, my future ladies champ. Mommy and Daddy love you," I said and gently pulled a blanket over them. I reached over and turned up the baby-monitor, and carried the other end into the bathroom while I showered.

It took, as usual, far too long to dry and brush my hair. But Lucas liked it so I was happy to put up with it. I tossed on a frilly pink nightgown, went to the kitchen, and made dinner for myself. When I was done I went back to my bedroom, threw off the covers, and lay down for the night. I pulled up the blankets, and fell asleep counting the hours until Luke came home.

And I began to dream of the road that had brought me here..................................