Canary and the Coal Mine

White-hot pain burned through my arm, taking my breath away. I clutched it tight to my chest, falling to my back in agony as I let out an anguished cry. Tears welled in my eyes as the ache grew worse, blossoming out from my elbow through my entire body. A pair of wrestling boots came into my blurred vision.

“I… hate you... “ I rasped, grimacing as I struggled to my knees. I reached for their shirt, trying to use their body to pull myself up. Bryan’s hands swatted mine away; I fell onto my back again, still moaning as he stepped over me and climbed out of the ring.

“You are the most dramatic person I know,” he told me, taking a swig of water as he watched me writhe. “And that’s saying something.”

“I think my vision is blacking out,” I rasped, rolling slowly towards the apron.

“You hit your elbow. I think you’re gonna make it.”

“I hit my funny bone, actually,” I corrected, sitting up and letting my legs hang over the side of the ring, still cradling my arm to my chest. “I thought my mentor was supposed to care about me, not mock my suffering.”

“You’re right, I’m sorry,” he said instantly, tossing the water aside and coming up to me. Before I could brace, Bryan pulled me into a bone-crushing hug and began to pet my hair aggressively. “Poor wittle baby Jamie!”

“Oi!” I laughed, trying to pull away. He just tightened his grip. I let out a squeak as he picked me up and rocked me back and forth.

“Precious little summer child,” he cooed, talking in a baby-voice. I tried to wriggle free. “Did you hurt your wittle elbow??”

“I’m better, I’m better!” I cried, trying to free myself. “Put me down you goat!”

“Never, I won’t abandon my sweet little Jay-Jay ever again!” he cooed, rubbing his scruffy face against mine. We heard the gym doors shut, and the two of us froze immediately seeing who’d walked in.

“I have no idea what’s going on here,” John started, and then jabbed a finger at me when I opened my mouth. “And I don’t want to. I am not going to be an accomplice.”

As John slowly backed to the other side of the gym, Bryan let me drop and I turned to face him indignantly.

“Why is it always me getting blamed for this stuff?”

“Gee, no idea,” he snorted, shaking his head. “Not like you harass everyone daily or anything. Nah, couldn’t be that…”

I smacked his arm as we gathered our workout stuff.

“I don’t torment everyone, just Dames and Cody. Which you and your tag partner should be grateful for.” He quirked a brow in question, so I elaborated. “I’m helping to weaken your toughest opponents. Psychological warfare.” I tapped my head as we walked out of the gym.

Bryan rolled his eyes as we waited at the elevator.

“Covering grown men in glitter and sequins isn’t psychological warfare. It’s just weird.”

“When it happens to you, I’m sure you’ll think otherwise,” I said idly as we got on. Bryan gave me a narrow-eyed look.

“It’s not going to happen to me.”

“Keep mocking my tactics, and I can’t guarantee your immunity.” We stopped at my floor and I turned to Bryan as I backed out, jamming a finger of warning in his direction. “Don’t leave without me.”

“Keep threatening my immunity, and I can’t guarantee you a ride,” he taunted, giving me the cheekiest grin I’d ever seen as the doors slid shut. I huffed in his direction and scurried down the hall, not wanting to push my luck with his patience today.

The room was empty when I got back, which thankfully meant Nikki wasn’t hogging the shower. I cleaned up fast and threw my damp hair up into a messy bun as I got dressed. When I came out, though, I found my best friend sitting on the floor in front of the full-length mirror. She looked up from doing her makeup as I grabbed my duffel and shoved my pajamas and bathroom crap inside.

“You’re not riding on John’s bus?”

“As much as I love you - and I do love you - I don’t want to listen to the two of you go at it like rabbits again.”

Instead of being embarrassed - like I imagined a normal human would be - she smirked proudly and shrugged.

“Suit yourself.”

“It’s bad enough you roll over onto me naked,” I continued, making a face. “The last thing I want to chance is seeing John in his birthday suit.”

“It’s nothing to be weirded out by,” she argued, getting up and staring at me with her hands on her hips. “It’s natural.”

“That’s great,” I promised, slinging my bag over my shoulder. “Doesn’t mean I want to see John Cena au natural. I’ll leave that for the two of you.”

Nikki actually pouted and came up to me, fidgeting with my shirt and sweeping back the stray pieces of hair I’d missed putting into my bun.

“I like traveling with you.”

“I do too. But you two aren’t even coming to the show tonight. It’s just out of your way. And now you and John get some alone time, and I get to harass someone else for three hours.” She gave me a smile and rolled her eyes. “Win-win for the both of us.”

“I’m still surprised you haven’t managed to sneak a ride with Damien and Cody yet,” she mused, and I heaved a heartfelt sigh.

“It’s not for lack of trying. They know not to leave their vehicles unlocked, and I still haven’t mastered breaking into a car.” I gave a wicked smile. “Yet.”

“That’s why you hide in a suitcase and let yourself get packed into the back,” she pointed out. I actually gasped and froze in place as I processed what she’d just said.

“It could work,” I muttered to myself, tapping my chin. “I’m small enough to fit Damien’s suitcase, and the workers loading the bags wouldn’t even notice… Can I unzip a suitcase from the inside? I’d need to practice. Would I jump out while they were driving? I couldn’t spend a whole trip tucked into a bag. But if I scare them and we crash -”

“Earth to Jamie,” Nikki laughed, waving her hand in front of my face and snapping me out of my thoughts. “Your phone’s ringing.”

Oh, yeah.

She rolled her eyes as I pulled my cell out, half expecting it to be Bryan. Randy’s name was on my screen instead. My heart leapt and I gave Nikki a quick smile; I had to get myself out of the room to talk to my secret boyfriend without making her suspicious. I snagged my duffel off the bed and quickly roped her into a tight hug.

“It’s Bryan,” I lied, kissing her cheek as I pulled back. My phone went quiet; I had to hurry and call him back before he got preoccupied with anything else. “I gotta go before he leaves without me.”

“Okay, go on then. You’ll come find me in the arena tonight before you do anything crazy, right?”

“You bet your biscuits I will,” I promised, backing out of the room and giving her a smile. “Love you Snickers!”

“Love you Jellybean,” she called as I let the door shut. As I raced down the hall, ready to call Randy, my phone went off again. It was him!

“Hey!” I said breathlessly, slumping against the wall by the elevator as I caught my breath. I heard him chuckle on the other end.

“Hey, baby. You working out?”

“No, trying to make sure my ride doesn’t leave without me,” I corrected, slipping into the elevator as the doors opened. “What’s up?”

“Just wanted to catch you before I got on the plane. I miss you.”

“I miss you too,” I promised, smiling to myself. “How was your weekend home?”

“Too short,” he sighed. “It was good seeing Alanna though. She’s getting so big.”

“I bet,” I sympathized; I knew how much he missed his daughter on the road. It only made me like him more. “And I’m sure she loved getting to see you.”

“She did,” he chuckled; I could feel his smile through the phone. “I can’t wait ‘til you get to meet her, Jay.”

My heart skipped a beat. I was so shocked I didn’t move, even when the elevator stopped on the first floor. I heard him laugh again as I managed to squeak out,

“What? Really?”

“Really. The whole weekend I kept thinking about what it’d be like having you there with us. A whole two days, wrestling-free, with my girls.”

Well thank God the doors closed again to hide my bright red face from the rest of the world. I couldn’t help the grin that broke out on my face.

“You have no idea how much I like hearing that,” I finally managed, coming to my senses and hitting the main floor button again as I tried to compose myself.

“Trust me, baby. I know.”

I went to answer when the doors opened unexpectedly the next floor down. A well-dressed man, with his back to me, stepped onto the elevator without turning around. Who got on an elevator like that?! The man went to hit the first floor button, but his hand paused when he saw it was already lit up.

The man turned slowly; Damien’s eyes met mine. For a split second we both froze in surprise. And then he let out a scream of terror. He surged forward without looking ahead and slammed into the now-closed elevator doors, stumbling back into me.

“Hey, I’ll talk to you later,” I managed, barely steadying myself and Damien before he slammed his hands on all the buttons between this one and the main floor.

“Please don’t start trouble before the show even starts,” Randy sighed, probably knowing exactly who was shrieking.

“No promises,” I replied as I hung up the call. “Dames! Hey, woah! What’s the fire?!”

“You’ve trapped me here! This is part of your plan!”

He went to surge forward the second the doors opened on the next floor, so I snagged his elbow and pulled him back. He whirled to face me and I instantly let him go.

“Hold on! What plan? I’m just on the elevator,” I defended, holding my hands up in mock surrender. His wild eyes flicked between my own as we, yet again, stopped at the next floor. Okay, this was gonna take a few minutes. Bryan probably would leave without me at this rate.

“Your plan to woo me and imprison me as your own tag partner!” he bellowed; I blinked up at him, at a loss for words for the second time on this elevator. He saw my confusion and let out a huff, thankfully lowering his voice as he explained, “you’re jealous of Cody. The entire roster knows it. You want me for yourself.”

“Is that what my plan is?”

“Like you don’t know,” he scoffed, and okay I just couldn’t resist.

“Well, I mean, when you trap yourself on the elevator with me dressed like that, how could I not be jealous of Cody?”

“I knew it,” he hissed, squaring up to me and puffing out his chest. I had to choke back a snort of laughter. He actually looked smug at the compliment, not seeming to care it came from me. “Now, just because you decide to dress like a desolate urchin doesn’t mean all of us must look so unkempt.”

I nodded in understanding, eyeing his snazzy suit. He leaned down to meet my gaze and glared at me as he continued, “Let me tell you something Jeanette. The bond that Cody and I have, it’s unbreakable. Have you ever heard of a soul mate?”

“Yes -”

“We’re more than that.” I raised a brow in question and he leaned a little closer to me, smirking. “We’re partners.”

He let his words sink in as the doors finally opened on the first floor. I shrugged my shoulders, stepping around him as I said simply,

“Well that explains why my plan to seduce you isn’t working.”

Bryan, in earshot of me, did a double-take at my words and then rolled his eyes when he saw my cheeky grin and Damien in pursuit of me.

“No! I didn’t mean - he’s my tag partner! Not - not that kind of partner!”

“Look, Dames, you don’t have to worry. I don’t judge. You love whoever you want to.”

Bryan heaved a sigh as he stood up and fell into step with me, Damien trailing us as we headed for the car.

“Jeanette! No! You must understand -”

“Hey, I got you. I do understand,” I promised, glancing back at him and giving a wink. “You do you, Dames. Or, y’know, do Cody. Whatever you prefer.”

Bryan actually choked out a snort.

“Cody is not my romantic counterpart!” he shouted, loud enough to make his words echo in the lobby. “Just because of the one instance in Delaware -”

“DAMIEN!”

The three of us - and the poor bystanders in the lobby - all looked back at the newest member of the conversation. Cody was sprinting across the room towards us, motioning wildly for his tag partner to shut his mouth.

“Go to him,” I said as passionately as I could, clutching at my heart as Bryan snagged my elbow and towed me towards the front door.

“Cody, this isn’t -” Damien processed what I’d just said, and he whirled to glare at me. “Jeanette! You’re not helping -”

“How many times have I told you, what happened in Delaware stays between us!” Cody screeched, hauling Damien through the lobby as I was pulled out to the front of the hotel. Bryan gave me an unamused look.

“Was that really necessary?”

He took the keys from the valet and helped me toss my bag into the back of the car as I tried to control my giggling.

“To be completely fair, he did all of that,” I deflected, hopping into the passenger seat. As he got in the driver’s seat, I added, “it would’ve been rude not to talk to him.”

“No wonder John and Nicole kicked you off their bus,” he mused; I glared at my best friend.

“I chose to leave, thank you very much. They’d both take me back with open arms.”

“Wait, so there’s a chance I could still get rid of you?”

I narrowed my eyes at Bryan.

“You couldn’t even get me out of your life, let alone this car.”

He let out a bark of laughter and gave me an incredulous look.

“Seriously, Jay? I mean seriously? I could suplex you out of that seat before the car stopped moving.”

“Why would you try that before stopping the car?”

“That’s not the point. What I’m saying is -”

“I mean, that’s counter-intuitive. What if we crash before you could suplex me?”

Bryan frowned as he pulled us onto the highway.

“It’d be a few seconds. We wouldn’t even swerve out of our lane.”

“Yeah? What if the guy in front of us hit his brakes. You can’t suplex me and stop the car.”

“I can and I will if you keep annoying me,” he only half threatened. I snorted to myself and shook my head.

“You’re all talk, Danielson. That’s the problem. You’re getting too cocky with Brie gone,” I informed him, settling down a little more and turning on the radio. “I’m still waiting for my rematch.”

“Oh come on, that was like two years ago!” he laughed, giving me a look as I shrugged and grinned at him. “You really think you can still beat me?”

“You cheated, so I know I can.”

“I did not cheat! How do you cheat at bowling? Enlighten me.”

“You used your own rigged ball -”

“You really think I rigged a bowling ball -”

Our hearty debate was enough to carry us over the three hour drive to San Antonio. Well, more like two and a half hours, because Bryan had refused to stop for food.

“It’s just grease and empty calories,” he argued as we hauled our bags through the parking garage. “Cardboard covered in butter would hold more nutritional value than any of the fast food crap we drove past.”

I made a noise of satisfaction as I slipped past him.

“What kind of butter? And is it the cardboard crisp? Or was it left out in the rain? Soggy cardboard isn’t my first choice, but I can make due.”

He shoved me towards the locker rooms as he skirted around me, giving me a disgusted look as he passed.

“Get out of my sight, I’m completely done with you.”

“If there aren’t chicken nuggets in the buffet tonight, I’m sabotaging your match,” I threatened as he rounded the corner. I hurried inside to get changed, because as pathetic as it was, thinking about buttered cardboard had actually made me more hungry.

We must have been some of the first to get to the arena; the only other person inside was Booker, who was taping up a copy of the schedule. Ever since I’d meddled with Damien and Cody’s times, they’d started making multiple printed copies to keep the confusion down… I gave myself a mental pat on the back as I tossed my bag onto the bench.

“That smile always means trouble,” Booker hedged, eyeing me as he hung the schedule. I scoffed and shook my head as I tugged out my ring attire.

“Me? Trouble?” Booker gave me a pointed look and I relented. “Fair point. What mayhem you got me down for tonight?”

“Nothin’ at the moment,” he started; I felt a surge of disappointment go through me. Don’t tell me Vickie had convinced him to keep me out of matches… “But that can change. Somethin’ comes up, you let me know an’ I’ll throw you on there.”

“Thanks, boss man,” I said, giving a two-fingered salute as I headed for the bathrooms. I changed quick as I mentally updated my to-do list: get food, get a match, follow up with Damien’s harassment. I still had time before the show, so if I hurried, maybe I could figure out something good.

The rest of the lockers were mostly empty, so I wouldn’t search out my usual companions (or victims) just yet. Right now, food was all that mattered. As I finished re-wrangling my hair into a slightly neater bun, I headed out for the break room. The buffets had to be set up by now.

As I came around the corner, getting ready to pass gorilla, I actually froze. There was a mariachi band warming up, hoards of red and green balloons and decorations, and six entire platters full of tacos.

“What’s all this?” I asked Ricardo Rodriguez as I made my way around the mariachi band. He beamed at me and held his arms out.

“A celebration! For our newest champion!”

“Wow, Del Rio gets his own personal buffet?” my mouth was watering, looking at all the trays piled high with beautiful snacks. Rodriguez nodded enthusiastically, then made a fatal mistake. He turned away and left me alone with the food.

Before I could be stopped, I snagged an entire tray of tacos and bolted back the way I’d just come, ignoring the confused shouting from the mariachi band that had witnessed the robbery. As of now, I considered Del Rio and I even for the confetti I’d loaned him.

As I turned the corner with my platter, I nearly collided with Damien. That’s what I got for stuffing an entire taco in my mouth as I practically sprinted through the halls. Dames looked ready to tear into me for our earlier ‘discussion’, but stopped when he saw what I was carrying.

“Hungry?” I mumbled around my mouthful of food. He made a face of disgust and wiped imaginary crumbs off the front of his robe.

“Not for the meager morsels you have to offer. What kind of barbaric food is this, anyways?”

I gave him a deadpan stare.

“You can’t seriously expect me to believe you don’t know what tacos are.”

He sniffed in distaste.

“My palate is much too sophisticated for the likes of tacos.”

“Tacos are some of the finest foods this world has to offer,” I argued, holding out my platter. When he didn’t take one, I added, “wouldn’t it make you more refined if you could say you’ve experienced tacos? Y’know, have a broadened horizon of knowledge or something?”

Damien made a ‘huh, good point’ face and snatched one before I saw him move. That sure didn’t take much convincing. I waved the plate at him and nodded eagerly.

“Take two. Hell, take ten. That robe has pockets.”

“I am not stuffing this cheap gas station-esque garbage into my one of a kind hand-stitched ring attire, Jeanette!” he scoffed as he took a bite. I grabbed a taco and stuffed one into his pocket for him.

“There,” I said, giving a cheeky smile as he let out a yelp of dismay, spraying food all over the front of his robe as he did so. “One for you to take home to Cody.”

The inhumane screech that came out of him echoed around me as I took off in the opposite direction. The taco he threw after me soared over my shoulder and exploded into a hundred delicious pieces that rained down onto The Usos sitting on one of the storage crates.

“What the hell!?” Jey snarled, leaping up and shaking the food out of his hair. As they turned their furious glares on me, I pointed back the way I’d come.

“Damien Sandow sends his regards.”

The boys shared a cold look and took off. A moment later, I heard Damien’s unmistakeable scream of terror. Part of me actually felt a little sorry for all the hell I put him through. I was actually pretty fond of the guy, okay?

Maybe I should’ve gone back to help him out… But he was a great long-distance runner when his life depended on it (not that I’d know anything about that....) so I was sure he’d be okay.

Mostly sure.

I wouldn’t stress about it. The Usos couldn’t do too much harm to him. At least not before Cody came to his rescue. So I set my sights on finding a place to eat in peace before the show started.

Since Nikki and John weren’t even coming tonight and Brie was back home house-sitting for Mama Bella, so that didn’t leave a whole lot of people on my list to bother.

Randy’s personal locker room was still empty, so no quality boyfriend time either. Instead of hunting down Ryback or Sheamus, I opted for the next best group of people.

The Shield were scattered about the locker room, all in various states of preparation. Roman and Seth were along the back wall, doing up their boots and vests as they chatted idly about something I couldn’t quite catch. Dean was parked on one of the benches, taping his hands and bobbing his head as he hummed a song to himself.

I found myself caught up in watching him, which was really no surprise. I really liked the Dean I saw, the way he acted when he thought no one was looking. He was a tough, no-nonsense kinda guy, that was a given. But he had his goofy sides, his dorky sides too. And I liked them just as much as I liked ruthless Mox.

Realizing that watching Dean like this was actually kind of creepy, I stepped into the locker room and held up my platter to make myself known. Roman was the first to spot me; his entire face lit up when he saw what was in my hands.

“Tacos!?”

“What?” Seth asked in disbelief, turning and giving Roman a puzzled look. “You’re telling me you use tacos to condition your hair?”

“No, dumbass -” he grabbed Seth and turned him to face me. “Tacos!”

Dean’s eyes flicked up to meet mine, and my heart skipped a beat as a small smile played over his lips. How mad would he be if I called him adorable?

“Of course Barbie’s here,” Seth griped, crossing his arms over his chest and settling into a scowl. “If you’re here to mess with our shit again, you can get the hell -”

Dean got to his feet, glaring at his brother in arms; why did Seth trying to banish me make him mad? Not like I was gonna listen, but still. He’d given that look to Seth before when he snapped at me; did he… did he not like the way Seth talked to me?

Before I could get knee-deep in my overthinking, Roman stepped up and shoved Seth into the lockers.

“There ain’t no way you’re makin’ her leave when she brought us food,” he scoffed, coming up to me and taking three at once. “Damn, where’d you get all these from?”

“Del Rio’s having a fiesta,” I said, nodding to the screen in the corner of the room. Dean sauntered up to me as I added, “he owed me a favor, so I cashed in and got the goods.”

“So in other words,” he drawled, taking a taco as his gaze burned through me. “Y’stole ‘em.”

“How dare you accuse me of such unwholesome behavior!” I huffed, feigning offended as I turned to leave with the platter. Roman made a noise of distress and threw his hand out to hit Dean across the chest for insulting me, sending lettuce and cheese everywhere.

“Ay! Show her some respect!” he chided; before I could take a step for the door, Dean’s arm wrapped around my waist. His fingers folded over my hip and he pulled me to him, pressing his chest to my back. His other hand came to rest on my hips as well, and he propped his chin on my shoulder to look down at the platter.

Well, my face had to be sixty shades of scarlet by now. Dean held me in place as Roman helped himself to another five or six tacos; even Seth came up and grabbed a few off the platter. He made sure to give me a begrudging look as he went back to getting ready.

“Any reason you’re here butterin’ us up, darlin?” he hummed, lips brushing over my ear and breath tickling down my neck. I shrunk back against him as I laughed involuntarily; okay, so my neck was a little ticklish.

“I figured - stop that!” I giggled again, shrugging my shoulders to hide my neck as he blew on it again. He laughed as well but finally let me pull out of his hold, smirking when I glared at him. “I figured bringing you guys food would be sufficient payment to let me bother you until the show started.”

“What, your friends get tired of you already?” Seth threw back; I sat the tacos on the end of the bench and sat beside them as I shrugged.

“Nah, I just wanted to see your sparkling face, Oreo.”

“I said don’t call me that!” he actually whined, rushing to the bathroom. Roman snorted as he shoved an entire taco into his mouth. Seth came storming back to the bench and dropped down on the other side of Roman. “My face is not sparkly.”

“Quit being such a baby, glitter man. I’m just teasing you,” I promised, rolling my eyes. Seth glared at me behind Roman’s back, and Roman smacked him across the chest now. With a snicker, I turned to Dean as he settled on the other side of me. I grabbed a taco and held it out to him.

He, in turn, leaned down and took a bite of it right out of my hand as he went back to wrapping his wrists. His crumbs sprinkled down onto me and I shoved his leg playfully.

“Really?”

“Mhmm,” he answered, glancing up at me; his eyes burned playfully into mine and I fought another damn blush. Seriously! Come on Jamie, play it cool!

I didn’t pull away, though, and let him take another bite as I turned my attention to the screen when I saw an injury update flash across the screen.

“Kane is out of action tonight, which means Daniel Bryan is without a partner for his match against Team Rhodes Scholars,” Cole’s voice said; my entire body ignited with excitement - this was perfect! Booker would totally let me team with Bryan!

“Keep my offering,” I said to the boys, hopping up and setting the remaining bit of taco on Dean’s lap. “My services are needed elsewhere.”

“You serious? You really gonna go rescue that damsel in distress?” Dean snorted, giving me a bemused look as I made for the door. I grinned back at him, doing my best not to get caught up in his unbelievably cute smile.

“Fighting Damien and Cody with my best friend? There’s no way I’m missing that.”

“Just watch your back out there, little girl,” Roman warned; I didn’t miss the veiled warning in his tone. “Never know what could happen.”

I paused in the doorway to give the boys a hard look.

“No meddling in my match.” They shared amused smirks and started to chuckle. The more I glared, the harder they laughed.

“Was that supposed to be a threat, Barbie?” Seth snorted, wiping fake tears from his eyes; I scowled. Even Dean was sniggering under his breath.

“You remember what happened the last time you decided to get involved. Something about Del Rio...” I reminded; the three of them sobered up pretty quick. “That’s what I thought. I brought you tacos, so I expect an uninterrupted match.”

I left before they could retaliate, scampering back up to the main level in search of my bearded friend. Unsurprisingly, I didn’t get very far. In fact, I barely got around the corner of the hall when I collided with a face I didn’t want to see.

“Oh thank god,” Brad Maddox cried, grabbing the front of my shirt and pulling me into a tight hug. “You won’t believe what they’re trying to do to me!”

Irritably, I shoved the vest-clad man-baby off me and swatted his hands down as he tried to pull me into another hug.

“I really don’t care, Brad,” I informed him, trying to step around. He moved to block my path; I crossed my arms over my chest.

“You’re the only friend I’ve got, Janie!”

“It’s Jamie. Go bother someone else -”

“They fired me!” he sobbed, throwing himself back onto me, sniveling into my shirt. I made a face and forced him back again. “It’s unfair! They can’t fire me! I’m the best looking wrestler they’ve got!”

“You’re not a wrestler,” I argued, still trying to get past him. He moved in front of me again and I gave him a look. He clasped his hands together in a silent plea. “Okay, what do I have to do to get away from you?”

“Just - just talk to Booker! Come to his office with me, vouch for me!”

I gave him a skeptical look, brows raising in disbelief as I shook my head.

“You asked me to vouch before. How did that go for you, again?”

His bottom lip trembled; another few moments and I figured he’d actually start crying.

“I never ask you for anything!” When I went to correct him, he added quickly, “you owe me one anyways!”

“What?!” I laughed, shaking my head. Brad nodded vigorously.

“You didn’t help me at all in my match with Randy!”

“The same match you tried to use me as a human shield?” He actually went quiet for a few moments and I smirked in victory. I went to pass one more time when he grabbed my wrist and tugged me back. “Brad -”

“Just do me a solid, Jamie, please! I’ll never ask for anything ever again!”

I knew Brad well enough to realize I wasn’t getting rid of him until I gave in. I took a few moments, debating a good plan of action; he took it as me contemplating my assistance. After another tense few seconds of silence, I blew out a breath and nodded.

“Fine, fine. Let’s go see Booker. “

Brad collapsed against me and tried to wrangle me into another hug.

“Thank you! Thank you! I knew I could count on you!”

“Touch me again and I’m not helping,” I threatened, shoving him off again. He held up his hands in mock surrender and nodded quickly, taking a step away. I led the way down the hall as he started babbling, recounting the unfair treatment he’d received. God, he was such a drama queen.

We paused outside an unmarked door and Brad furrowed his brows.

“This isn’t Booker’s office.”

“You really think our General Manager just stands around in his office all day waiting to be bothered, do you?” I lied, giving Brad a look. “He’d never get anything done if everyone knew where to find him.”

Brad’s face lit up.

“See, I knew I could count on you. My instincts never fail me!”

I didn’t feel bad for messing with Brad like I did with Damien (sometimes). Brad Maddox was the most conceited, conniving little brat I’d ever met. It did him good to be brought back down to earth like this once in a while.

“You go in first, butter him up for me, yeah?” he urged, waving me forward. I gave an over-exaggerated nod.

“Good idea,” I said in mock-eagerness. “You wait here, okay?”

He gave me a thumbs up and mouthed ‘thanks’ as I slipped inside.

The security guards gathered around the TV inside looked back in question. I grinned at them.

“Word has it Brad Maddox was fired today,” I started. The looks on their faces confirmed what I’d assumed - he wasn’t supposed to be here still. “He’s outside. I’ll send him in.”

They all stood up and turned for the door as I slipped back out. Brad stopped his pacing and turned to me hopefully.

“What’d he say?”

“Oh, really receptive,” I promised. “In fact, didn’t even want to talk to me. Wanted you directly.”

“You work miracles, you know that?” he gushed, going in for another hug. I gave him a look and he skirted around me, hands up again. “Sorry, sorry. Force of habit. I just can’t believe you got me my job back! You’re an angel. Forget all I said about you. If Titus ever says I talked about you behind your back -” I narrowed my eyes at him as he opened the door. “Just remember my love for you now.”

He turned inside just as the door shut.

“Booker! I’m so glad you came around. Let’s talk yearly bonus -”

Brad’s words cut off in a scream and I heard the handle rattling as he tried to escape. There was some angry shouting and something that sounded like an actual sob, and a moment later the door opened. Brad was hauled out by two of the guards, holding each of his arms as they dragged him down the hall.

“Get your filthy hands off me! Do you have any idea how much this vest was?! And you brutes are ruining the stitching! I said unhand me -” his frenzied eyes landed on me and he made a noise of rage. “YOU! You betrayed me! After all I’ve done for you, you ungrateful little -”

He gave a furious shriek; I beamed and waved at him as he and the guards disappeared around the corner. Maybe it was a little harsh, but man was he annoying. And it was nothing more than that little weasel deserved.

Dusting my hands off, I turned and set myself back to my original mission. Find my Goat before anyone else tried to partner up with him. It seemed that doing my good deed of turning in Brad had gotten me some karma points with the universe; for once, the first locker room I tried was the one I needed.

Bryan glanced up at me from his spot on the bench and actually heaved a sigh, looking like a depressed six-year-old. I plopped down next to him and nudged his leg with mine.

“Why the pouty face?”

“Didn’t you see Kane’s on injury this week? He’s out. Which means -”

“Which means that Team No-Less gets a one-night reunion!”

A camera man passing by the locker room actually came to a quick stop and backed up at hearing what I’d just said, turning the camera on us. Bryan’s brows went up to his shaggy hairline and he gave me a skeptical look.

“You didn’t sabotage my match because there weren’t any chicken nuggets…. Did you?”

I scoffed and made a face of disbelief.

“Like I would do something like that. C’mon, Daniel. Really.”

He gave me a dry look, and I offered a cheeky smile as he asked,

“Don’t you have your own match to worry about?”

“Nope. Booker didn’t schedule anything for me. What d’you say, partner?”

I could hear a roar of excitement from the crowd; we must be on the titantron. Bryan let a wry smile curl over his face and he gave a small shake of his head.

“I dunno... you and me, tagging together again? This might not be a good idea,” he hedged; I scoffed and hopped to my feet.

“Are you kidding me?” I held out my hands and he took my offering, letting himself be pulled to his feet. “This is gonna be great. But if you wanna talk about things that aren’t a good idea, I mean what’s with that thing on Cody’s face?”

Bryan actually let out a laugh.

“Some people just don’t understand when their facial hair starts to look ridiculous!”

He shook his head and I swallowed an instinctive snort, eyeing his wild beard.

“Yeah, tell me about it,” I agreed slowly, and Bryan turned to look at me, eyes squinting dangerously. I blinked up at him innocently.

“What’re you trying to say?” he challenged, and I shrugged.

“Nothing.”

He narrowed his eyes.

“Say it!”

“No!”

“Yes!”

“No!”

“Yes, yes, yes!”

“No, no, no!”

“Yes, yes, yes!”

“No, no, no!”

“Yes –“

Bryan cut off and let his eyes flick over my head; on instinct I glanced over and saw Randy eying us apprehensively. He opened his mouth to say something, shut it, and then pinched the bridge of his nose. He blew out a breath, then lifted his head to look between us again.

“We’re in the middle of a debate,” I told him, hands on my hips. Randy raised an eyebrow, unamused. “Is this important?”

“I’ve got a score to settle, and I know both of you are ready for a fight. So I’m just curious…” he let an idle smirk flicker over his face. “You two gonna act like a couple of second graders, or do you want to turn your match into a 3-on-3 and help me defeat Team Rhodes Scholars and Wade Barrett?”

Booker must’ve officially made me a part of the match! I let a grin take over as Bryan scowled up at my boyfriend. He was probably more upset about me insulting his beard than Randy’s dig.

“Both,” he informed us, storming out of the locker room to hopefully get ready for the match, seeing as it was up next after the current segment.

Randy turned to me, and raised his brow, waiting for my reply. Mindful of the camera still on us, I turned and crossed my arms, tipping my head back to look up at him. Why was everyone so freaking tall?!

“We’re not acting like second graders. I’m helping Daniel work through his anger issues.”

“He’s a short, moody little goat man. It’s gonna take a lot more than little miss sunshine to work anything out with him.”

“Sounds like someone’s a little moody themselves…”

“I’m not moody, Jay, I’m just tired of waiting for Royal Rumble for my chance to be a champ again.”

That’s how we were gonna play this? Well hell, I was game! I smirked at him and chuckled,

“Oh, sorry. You think you’re actually gonna beat me?”

Randy slowly crossed his own arms, mimicking me, and the two of us stared each other down. I gave him my best steely, dangerous scowl as I saw his jaw tense. To anyone else, we looked like we were about to start the Rumble right here, right now. But I could see the playful fire in his eyes, and I knew he saw the almost imperceptible twitch of my lips, threatening to break into a grin at any moment. For once, it seemed his good mood on the phone had carried over into the show. Finally!

As I was just seconds from breaking my scowl, Bryan reappeared in the doorway of the locker room. Randy and I glanced at him in surprise as he came to stand beside us. He looked much less put off than he had earlier, and actually had a smile on his face. Seriously, sometimes I couldn’t keep up with him.

“Hey! We’re a team tonight! No negativity! You know what we need?”

“To win?” I offered dryly.

“No – I mean, yes, but after we win?”

“Open tab at the nearest bar?” Randy threw out. The two of us shrugged as Bryan adamantly shook his head.

“Not at all. You see, Randy, I used to be a lot like you.” Randy’s brows lifted slowly, a bemused expression coming over his face. “Oh yes. But you see, Dr. Shelby helped me work through my anger issues. And now, I’m champion. Now, don’t you want to be a champion, Randy?”

Hey! What about me? I glared at my goat-faced brother and narrowed my eyes.

“Yes, I do want to be champion. And after Royal Rumble -”

“You can sit back and take notes while I go on and win my title match,” I cut in, stepping forward. Randy moved to do the same as Bryan slipped between us. He put a hand on Randy’s chest, and a hand on my forehead as he pushed us back.

“Waitwaitwaitwait!” he said quickly, shaking his head as he turned to Randy. He must’ve been supporting Randy to get back at my jab about his facial hair. The little jerk. “Tonight is not about the Rumble. You need to take it one step at a time. First, we win our tag match. And then…”
Bryan threw his arms out and gave a wide, enthusiastic smile. “Group hug!”

I couldn’t help the laugh that escaped me. Randy looked between us, unamused, and gave a shake of his head.

“I’m not much of a hugger.”

Bryan’s smile widened as I grinned up at him; thankfully, the camera wasn’t on my face. I had to look pretty out of character, after all my badass threats about winning the Rumble.

“Not yet you’re not!” Bryan threatened, patting his arm as he jogged for the door. As the camera finally cut off, Bryan glanced back at me. “We’re on in five, I’ll see you at gorilla!”

Once Bryan was gone, Randy tugged me back around the corner, out of sight to anyone that walked by or came inside. He moved to pull me into a hug, and I placed my hands on his chest, pushing him back. His brows furrowed at me; I shrugged and said idly,

“Thought you told Bryan you’re not a hugger…”

Randy smirked for a heartbeat and then gave me a playfully dangerous look, lunging at me and wrapping me up in his arms. I let out a laugh and playfully tried to pull away as he held me tight to his chest.

“I’ve been known to make exceptions, you know,” he teased, leaning down and brushing his lips over mine swiftly. “Only for the prettiest wrestler on the roster, though.”

I managed to pull out of his arms and did my best to look defeated.

“Well Brodus is a lucky man,” I pouted; Randy gave me a dry look and pulled me to him again.

“You’re weird, you know that?”

“I’ve heard it mentioned from time to time,” I teased, and was surprised to get another kiss. This time, Randy’s lips lingered on mine. His arms slid down to rest around my waist, and I let my hands rest on his chest.

He pulled back, but rested his forehead against mine as he smiled down at me.

“I really missed you, Jay. It’s not the same when I’m away from you.”

“I missed you too,” I promised, getting on my tiptoes to kiss him again. “Maybe we could do something tonight, just you and me?”

Just as Randy went to answer, we heard Titus and Darren coming into the locker room. This wasn’t Randy’s, I’d forgotten. We didn’t have the assured privacy. Instead of brushing me off, though, Randy led me back out of the corner and said,

“We will. We’ll think of something later, okay?”

He gave me a genuine smile that had me blushing all over again; was Randy finally starting to act like we were in a relationship? I couldn’t think of the last time he’d actually agreed to making plans with me after the show.

“I’m holding you to that,” I only half-threatened. He gave me a swift wink as he paused in the doorway.

“I expect nothing less. I’m gonna go get changed. I’ll meet you out there, trouble.”

He laughed at the look on my face - come on, I’m not that much trouble! - and disappeared down the hall. As I did a last check to make sure my ring attire was ready to go, I couldn’t help letting my thought wander to Randy and I.

Things had been so different the last few days. He’d called and texted every day he was gone, he was actually playful with me today, and now a date? This Randy… this was who I’d wanted to date. The one that made an effort and showed he truly cared about me.

As I heard the show come back from the commercial break, I hurried out of the locker room and headed for gorilla. I’d get all gushy and dewy-eyed over my relationship later. Randy was just coming down the hall towards me when I reached Bryan by the stairs.

“See you out there,” he said to Bryan and I as he skirted past us; he gave me a quick wink as he jogged up the steps. When his music hit, I moved to look at the screen as he made his entrance. Good god he was attractive. A smirk curled over his face as the camera zoomed in on him, and my breath actually left me.

As much as I crushed on Dean, there were perks to dating Randy… like being able to call the man posing in the ring my boyfriend. And for the first time since we started dating, things felt right. This felt like a relationship. Sure, we were still secret. For now. But Randy and I were finally on the same page about what we wanted, and I felt closer to him than I ever had before.

My thoughts were interrupted as Bryan came up and nudged me; I glanced at him and met his smile with one of my own. We both turned our attention to the clips that were showing now - of Randy getting jumped by the Shield.

“Think those jerks are gonna interrupted our match tonight?” Bryan mused; I shook my head and said instantly,

“Oh, trust me. They won’t be.”

It was only after the words left my mouth and I saw the confused look on Bryan’s face that I remembered my friendship with the Shield - if you could call it that - was not public knowledge. I blanched for a second and then added quickly,

“It, uh, it would be an even match-up. You, me, and Randy against them. I don’t think they’d come out unless they outnumbered us, you know?”

“Good point,” he agreed, turning back to the screen. Close one Jamie, I sighed to myself. “You think Orton would really stick with us, though?”

“I do. He’s my friend, after all,” I reasoned, moving back to the stairs at Gorilla. “And he hates the Shield as much as we do. He’d have our backs.”

“Fair point,” Bryan nodded, and then gave me a quick one-armed hug as my own music hit. “Let’s knock ‘em dead.”

I gave him a swift wink and then rushed up the steps, dancing out onto the stage. The rush of the fans excitement swept over me, and I threw up a peace sign to them as I made my way down the ramp.

The fans I could see mimicked my movement; others leaned over the barricade to slap my hand as I headed for the ring.

“His partner, from Ouray, Colorado, weighing in at 117 lbs…” I jogged up the steps and then turned on the apron, throwing up another peace sign as Lillian shouted, “Jamie Lawless!”

The crowd erupted again, matching my peace sign. With a grin, I grabbed the top rope and vaulted myself over, spinning and skittering aside to go stand next to Randy. I spared half a moment to look over my shoulder and wave eagerly at Damien, Cody, and Barrett. All three men gave me different variations of a scowl.

Bryan’s music hit, and he hopped his way to the ring to Join us. I was always so blown away by how over he was with the fans. I loved seeing them cheer on my best friend, and even though he pretended to hate it, I knew how much he loved their support.

As Bryan got in the ring, I threw my hands up and followed the crowd in their ‘YES!’ chants, earning an in-character scowl from him. He did his ‘NO!’ chant, and we started going back and forth. Randy grabbed both our shoulders and shoved us into the corner.

“Argue on the apron,” he chided, in character now as well. I huffed but stepped out of the ropes, standing in our corner with Bryan to my right.

Cody stepped in first, and the two men in the ring wasted no time going after each other. Randy easily got the upper hand and threw a few hard hits at the mustached man, driving him into the corner. He grabbed Cody, pulled him back to the middle of the ring, and then shoved him into the ropes.

As Cody bounced off them, Randy hit him with a hard clothesline and he crumpled to the mat. Randy looked about ready to go after him some more, but then glanced back and locked eyes with me.

“Jay, you ready?” he asked, dragging Cody by his hair into our corner as he put his hand towards me. I nodded eagerly and reached out, but I was too short to close the distance. Bryan snorted into his beard and I saw a smirk flicker over Randy’s face. With a huff, I stepped onto the bottom rope and leaned out again; we slapped hands and I hopped over the ropes.

Randy held him in place for me and I gave a hard kick to Cody’s chest. Randy let go of him to let him double over, stepping around us to go to the apron. I shoved Cody towards the middle of the mat, and as he got to his knees, I ran, bounced off the ropes, and hit him with a Thesz press.

I straddled him and threw a few hard forearms into his face to stun him, then laid him out for the pin. I scooped his leg and laid over him for the pin, but he kicked out at two. Knowing better than to push my luck so early, I got up and grabbed Cody’s arm, twisting it around to force him up. He let out a yelp of pain and stumbled after me as I hauled him to the corner.

With one hand, I tagged Bryan. The other I used to twist Cody down onto his knees. I stepped aside and held out his arm for Bryan to jump down and slam into. Cody dropped and Bryan went after him as I came out to stand next to Randy.

“You’re actually playing it safe for once,” Randy noted under his breath; I threw him a dubious look, and took the chance to add,

“Wanted to spend more time on the apron with my wrestler.”

It was worth it, seeing the smirk that came over his face as he actually freaking blushed. I couldn’t help the giddy smile that came over me.

We watched Bryan NO!-kick Cody across the mat, but as he went for the final blow, Cody ducked and rolled aside, tagging Damien. The second pink-pants got into the ring, though, Bryan grabbed his arm. He spun Damien around and dropped him to the mat, going for his submission move. Damien let out a shriek, pulled free and rolled out of the ring.

Cody was on him instantly, hugging him and backing to the barricade. Oh come on. Babies. Randy and I shared a look, and we both jumped down. The second Damien saw us coming he let out another shriek and dove back into the ring. Randy and I glared Cody back to his own corner, then hurried back to ours.

It wasn’t hard for Bryan to get the upper hand, and he mercilessly beat Damien down into the mat. After a few more minutes, he finally relented and hauled Damien to our corner. Randy nodded towards me, letting me step in. He knew how much I loved wrestling Damien!

Bryan slapped my hand for the tag, and I scampered up to the top rope. Bryan ducked under the ropes quickly, leaving Damien alone for my attack. I leapt up and forward, leaning back as I threw my legs out and locked them around Damien’s neck.

I swung myself around as I fell and pulled my legs down, throwing Damien across the mat as I rolled out of my hurricanrana. I heard Cole say excitedly, “- and a beautiful Lawless-canrana!”. Not the most original name, but I’d take it! The crowd was chanting “LAWLESS!” as I hopped to my feet; they’d loved it!

As Damien lay stunned, I moved for a pin. He kicked out at two, but was still a little shaky. The crowd was still chanting, so I figured why not? I hauled Damien to his feet and planted him in the middle of the ring. I went to a free corner and hopped onto the top rope again; as I went to jump, the top rope gave a violent shake.

My balance was lost and I felt my left foot slip. I was lucky that this was a move I’d practiced - and botched - a lot, because my body instinctively knew to tuck forward over trying to steady myself on the rope. Instead of a nasty fall backwards, I managed to drop into the ring instead. Still painful, but not enough to injure me.

I hit the mat on my right arm and got the wind knocked out of me. I could hear Bryan and Randy shouting to see if I was okay. The ref moved to check on me, but Damien didn’t give him the chance as he laid over my chest - not helping my breathing situation - and scooped my leg for the pin.

Just as the ref reached two, I twisted myself with everything I could muster and broke the pin. As Damien argued with the ref about incompetent pin-counting, I scrambled forward between his legs and surged up, tagging Bryan’s hand and then slumping onto the apron. Damien let out a shriek; he hadn’t noticed the tag.

Randy knelt down next to me and put a hand on my shoulder to steady me. I blinked up at him and saw the concern in his eyes.

“Are you hurt?”

“M’fine,” I wheezed, struggling to sit up. Randy slipped his hand under my back and helped me up to lean against the ring post. “Needa catch my breath.”

“That could’ve been a lot worse,” he growled, and for a heartbeat I thought he was mad I’d gone for the hurricanrana again. But when I glanced up at him, his eyes were still gentle on me. “Barrett shook the rope on you.”

“Asshole,” I huffed, though honestly I felt more relieved than anything. I was glad I hadn’t botched my own move. Randy grabbed my arm and helped pull me to my feet as we turned back to watch the match.

It wasn’t going good for Bryan. Barrett had Bryan down in the middle of the ring, and he was delivering knee after knee to Bryan’s face and chest. Wade dropped for a pin and I tensed, hoping… yes! Bryan kicked out!

Wade stumbled to his feet, snarling, and turned to tag Cody in. Bryan got to his feet, a little disoriented, and reached out on instinct for a tag. Which did no good when he was literally across the ring.

“C’mon!” I urged, hopping onto the bottom rope; Randy and I both leaned as far out as we could and called for Bryan to make the tag. But Cody was in and Bryan had to act. As Cody hopped off the ropes and went for a tackle, Bryan side-stepped him and hit him with a hard clothesline in midair.

Both men dropped - this was his chance! Cody - stunned now - was crawling back to his corner. Randy and I - with the crowd behind us - were rallying Bryan as much as we could. Both of us were jumping up and down calling his name.

Bryan was just a foot from us now, and he reached to tag. Damien - tagged back in by Cody - surged forward. But instead of tackling Bryan, he ran full-force into the ropes and slammed into me. A squeak of alarm left me and I flew off the apron, landing hard on my back and getting the wind knocked out of me again.

A moment later, the crowd roared to life and someone landed beside me. I forced my eyes open and came face to face with Bryan, lying in a heap on his side. He must have tagged Randy. He let out a groan and flopped onto his back. Slowly we both sat up.

Without Damien laying on my chest, I got my breath back much quicker. I pulled myself up using the apron, then turned and helped Bryan to his feet too. He slumped onto the steps, needing a little longer to recover.

I got into our corner to check on Randy, just in time to see him give a hard snap scoop powerslam to an unsuspecting Damien. He let out a laugh and actually beckoned Cody in the ring, who obliged. He got the same fate as Damien had.

As Cody rolled back out of the ring, Randy turned his attention to Damien again. He went to pull him into his signature DDT off the middle rope, but Barrett interfered. Randy knocked him off the apron, but I could see Barrett wasn’t done.

As Randy went to get Damien down, Barrett moved to circle the ring and ambush him. Bryan was at my side on the apron, looking ready to come back into the fight. He met my eyes briefly.

“I’ve got Barrett, you cover Orton!”

Bryan raced down the length of the apron and leapt at Barrett, hitting him hard with a flying knee and taking him out. I turned to the ring just in time to see Cody hit Randy with Cross-Rhodes. Randy was down, and now Damien was going for the pin off the illegal interference. Well of course he was. I wasn’t letting them get the win after all we’d done to get here.

As the ref went for the three-count, I dove into the ring and tackled Damien off my boyfriend to break the pin. I didn’t have a chance to check on Randy, though, as Cody got back in with us. I jumped up, planted a foot, and spun around as hard as I could to hit a wicked buzzsaw kick.

Cody actually fell back and hit the ropes, flipping over them and falling out of the ring. Huh, not bad! I didn’t have long to enjoy my attack, though. I felt a pair of hands lock into my shirt and grab the waist of my pants, and then I was tossed up and over the ropes and dumped onto the ground beside Cody.

Damien smirked down at me, turned around, and walked right into a vicious RKO from the Viper. Randy spun on a knee, dropped over Damien, and scooped his leg.

One… two… three!

Randy’s music hit and a second later I was ambushed by my best friend. Bryan hauled me to my feet and practically threw me into the ring as he followed suit. I got up again and smirked at Damien, Cody, and Barrett as they limped up the ramp.

Randy made for the corner to strike his pose just as Bryan ducked the ropes, skirting in front of him and holding out his arms. As Randy stared at him, confused, Bryan mouthed group hug. Oh my god. He’d been serious!?

Well, shit. I’d go with it. Because that meant I would get to hug Randy in the ring after our kick-ass victory. I wasn’t passing that up. Randy shook his head at Bryan, and then turned to leave the other way. He came to a stop, seeing me with a cheeky grin.

“Jay.”

“C’mon,” I teased, opening my arms up.

“No.”

“Oh yeah.”

“No.”

I beckoned him into a hug with my fingers and he gave me a pained look. I wiggled my brows at him and he held up a finger in warning.

“Don’t you dare -”

I surged forward and wrapped Randy in a hug, pinning his arms to his side and squeezing as tight as I could. The crowd roared with laughter, and a moment later ‘YES!’ chants started up as Bryan joined in.

His arms came around Randy completely and he held onto me, effectively sandwiching the Viper between us in a group hug. As the crowd cheered, Randy mimed struggling to break free. He bent forward a hint and his lips brushed my ear as he whispered,

“I love you.”

My whole body ignited with surprise and happiness, just in time for us to pull apart. I stared up at Randy with a stunned smile on my face. He… he loved me!? He’d really just said that to me. He gave me a quick, surreptitious wink and then shrugged Bryan off his back, finally breaking the hug.

I knew I had to stay in character, but how could I after that!? Thankfully, Bryan seemed to always know what I needed, because he skirted Randy and pulled me into a hug of our own. Randy, playing up the crowd, shook his head and went to the corner to strike his pose.

Bryan hauled me out of the ring, still hugging me, as I saw Randy give a shrug to the crowd, playing up his exasperation with the hug. Thankfully, Bryan got me backstage. I was still so caught up in Randy’s words I couldn’t make myself move.

“That was an awesome match!” Bryan gushed, finally letting go of me as he jumped in excitement. “Oh my god. We were badass. I gotta go eat some kale.”

“You - what?” I managed, making a face as I turned to him. He was already sprinting down the hall. Weird little goat-man. I shook my head, then turned and came face to face with Randy. I made a noise of surprise as he wrapped me up in a hug.

We didn’t speak as he let me go and pulled me to his locker room. The second he locked the door, I turned to him. He caught my look and raised a brow.

“Did you… did you mean what you just said?” I asked in a small voice. Randy let a small, shy smile come over his face as he slowly made towards me.

“Do I really love you?” he pressed; my throat went dry, and I managed a nod. “Yes. I do.”

I opened my mouth to answer him, but shut it even quicker. What… what did I say? I mean, did I love him? Did I even know what love was? I mean, Randy was the first real boyfriend I’d had. After all that went down with Drake, I didn’t count him as an actual relationship. So how did I know if I loved Randy?

“Hey,” he murmured, reaching out and taking my chin gently to tip my head back. “You don’t need to say it back right away. I know it’s sudden. I just want you to know how I feel about you, Jamie. How I’ve felt about you for a while now. You’re different from anyone else I’ve been with. You’re beautiful, smart, and you’ve got one hell of an attitude. You hold tight to what you believe, and I respect the hell out of you. I know I’m not the best boyfriend, but I just needed you to know how much I care about you. You’ve done something to me.”

I had no words for Randy, so I did the next best thing. I wrapped my arms around his neck, tugged him down to my height, and pressed a hard kiss to his lips. He let out a moan and instantly kissed me back, pressing me against the door.

His hands settled on my hips and he gripped them tight, holding me in place as we deepened the kiss. My tongue flicked over his lips and he parted them eagerly, flicking his own out to meet mine. We pulled back for a breath, and as I went to kiss him again, Randy’s hands pushed on my hips to keep me back.

“You smell like Damien Sandow,” he murmured to me, and I snorted out a laugh. “It’s kind of turning me off. I’m not gonna lie.”

I ducked my head and sniffed my shirt; sure enough, I smelled Damien’s cologne. I made a face and Randy laughed, letting me go and stepping aside.

“Ew. Okay. I’m gonna shower,” I said, unlocking the door. “I’ll meet you back here in twenty.”

“Don’t keep me waiting, beautiful,” he teased, giving me a wink. I felt myself blush as I practically scampered back into the hall. I made it to the lockers and grabbed my stuff without incident. Which was good, because I really didn’t wanna keep him waiting.

I showered fast and dressed even faster, hurrying back to Randy’s locker room and pulling my damp hair into a bun on the way. His locker door was open, and I saw a camera in the corner. Randy was standing the the TV in the corner, arms crossed as he watched the show.

Dean, Seth, and Roman were on the screen. Of course they were. It was like they’d been watching me, waiting until I was in the room and paying attention. Because just as I came to Randy’s side, Seth said dangerously,

“And of course, little Jamie Lawless. You just love getting in our business, sweetheart.”

“No matter how many times we tell you not to…” Roman growled, giving an irritable twitch of his lip.

“You just can’t leave us alone, can you little Finch?” Dean drawled, eyes flashing with an emotion I couldn’t place, tongue flicking out over his lower lip. “Trust me on this one, darlin’. We don’t mind one bit.”

“However,” Roman added slowly.

“You keep showing up where you don’t belong, and we’ll be forced to remind you what happened when you cross the Shield,” Seth finished, and all three men chuckled, sharing looks with one another before turning back to the camera.

“Ambrose.”

“Rollins.”

“Reigns.”

“All of you…” Dean growled. “You will believe.”

“Believe in the Shield,” Seth said, almost tauntingly. Roman grabbed the camera and shoved his face towards it as he shouted,

“Believe in the Shield!”

Randy shook his head at the TV and glanced at me. I met his humorless frown with one of my own.

“You with me on this?” he asked, and I nodded instantly.

“Shield aren’t gonna walk all over us.” I let a smirk curl over my lips as I added, “believe that.”

The camera man gave us a quick thanks and hurried out of Randy’s locker room, leaving us alone. Honestly, part of me was expecting him to back out of our plans, so I braced for disappointment when he turned to me.

But then he swooped down and gave me a kiss on the cheek, saying,

“I’ll grab us some dinner and you can meet me at my room when I get back,” he offered. “I got something I really wanna talk to you about.”

“Is it.. Bad?” I asked hesitantly; Randy quickly shook his head.

“Don’t worry. It’s not. Just keep an eye for my text, okay?”

I nodded and Randy gave me another quick kiss before he grabbed his bags. He waved to me as he jogged down the hall; I waited until I couldn’t see him anymore, and then I all but ran to my locker room.

Bryan was just slinging his bag onto his shoulder as I came through the doorway. He tossed my own duffel to me, and we both set off down the hall. The drive to the new hotel was a short one, which made dealing with a grumpy Bryan a little easier.

He was sore, tired, and without his girlfriend - a nasty combination. I pointedly kept quiet through the drive, even offering to check in for us so he didn’t need to. He grumbled a thanks as we rode the elevator up to our floor.

The moment we were inside the room, Bryan threw his bags at the end of the far bed and collapsed on top of the covers.

In ten minutes, he was out cold. He was much easier to ditch than Nikki and Brie, which left me with some extra time to doll myself up for Randy. Except… well, I didn’t have any makeup. And my outfits weren’t really cute or flirty. I didn’t really know how to do my hair in anything other than a bun or a ponytail, so in reality all I could do was sit and wait.

Which meant plenty of time to worry about what it was he wanted to tell me. He said it wasn’t bad, but was he just telling me that so I didn’t panic? My mind went over a dozen different horrible scenarios, all worse than the last… I was gonna drive myself crazy.

Thankfully, I didn’t need to wait for long. I got a text from him with his room number. I scribbled a note telling Bryan I’d be back soon, and took off for Randy. My heart was hammering in my chest. Something felt different now. This was the first real date night we’d had since our dinner out.

We’d be completely alone, no interruptions. I was excitedly terrified. By the time I reached his room, I was ready to throw up and burst into deranged laughter. I swallowed my crazy urges and knocked quickly.

Randy answered almost instantly, stepping aside to let me in. When the doors closed, he rested his hand on my hip and pulled me to him, dipping down and giving me a slow, sensual kiss.

“I got us some burgers and fries, hope that’s okay,” he said, pulling back just as I wanted to go further with the kiss. His hand slipped to the low of my back and he guided me to the bed. We both sat down and he moved to open the bag of food, but I caught his hand and stopped him. He glanced at me and I burst out,

“Can you just please tell me what you want to tell me? I can’t stop thinking about it, and I’m gonna drive myself up a wall.”

He let out a laugh and scooted closer to me. I stared up at him with worried eyes and he leaned down to kiss me again. He pulled back just a hint, foreheads pressed together again, noses and lips brushing. He smiled just a bit and whispered to me,

“Sam and I are telling Alanna about the divorce at the end of the month. It’ll be all out in the open.”

My heart caught in my throat, and I pulled back to look at him excitedly.

“Wait. So that means…”

“We can go public. We don’t have to be a secret anymore,” he told me, sounding as happy as I felt right now. “Sam’s bringing Alanna to the Raw after Rumble and… I want you to meet her, and then we can go tell your friends. I want it all out there. No more hiding -”

I threw myself at Randy, wrapping my arms tight around his neck as I knocked him back onto the bed. I was so excited I couldn’t hold back. I buried my face in his neck and let out a laughter of happiness as Randy hugged me tight to him.

“You have no idea how much I want that,” I whispered, propping myself up over him to look down at him. “We can actually be a real couple. You… you really want everyone to know we’re dating?”

“I love you, Jamie, and I want everyone else to know it too.”

I leaned down and pressed a hard, eager kiss to his lips, not holding back as I let my body drape over his. An arm wrapped around my waist to hold me in place as his free hand braced against my side.

Our tongues met roughly and we fought for dominance as he pulled me impossibly closer to him. One of my hands ran through his short hair as the other cupped his neck. Slowly, I felt his hand on my side trailing up, brushing over the side of my breast. I didn’t slow our kiss, not even as his other hand moved to rest on my hip, under my shirt.

His hand grew bolder as our kisses grew quicker; his fingers skimmed over my ribs, then brushed the fabric of my bra. My breath hitched, but I didn’t move to stop him. His hand withdrew and his arm went back around my waist. Then, before I realized what was going on, Randy had flipped us over and now I was lying beneath him.

“Is this…okay?” he rasped, breathless as he hovered over me. My mind was in a million places at once. Was this okay? Yes. Yes, so much yes. More kissing, more touching. I wanted more. Randy loved me. We were gonna tell his daughter. Tell Nikki and Bryan and the others. This was real.

This was real.

The moment I nodded my acceptance, the rest went by in a blur. First my shirt, then his. His pants and then mine joined the shirts on the floor and before I knew it, I was in my bra and panties lying under Randy.

“If you need me to stop, Jay,” he started, and then shook his head. “I can’t stop once I start. I can’t. You’re so fucking hot. I can’t -”

“It’s okay,” I said quickly, running my nails down his bare back, pausing at the band of his boxers. Randy groaned involuntarily. “I’m fine. I want this.”

My bra went next. I might’ve been self-conscious with my body when I finally found myself naked underneath him, but I didn’t have the chance. This wasn’t like the movies, or the books, or like anything Nikki had told me about.

This was fast, rushed. Like Randy just couldn’t contain himself. One minute we were kissing desperately, writhing against each other, and the next he was pulling his boxers off with shaking hands. He only broke away long enough to find a condom in his wallet, and then he was on me again.

He slid the condom on and grabbed one of my legs, pushing it up roughly before slowly sliding into me. I let out a pained cry and Randy’s lips were on me in an instant, swallowing the noises I made.

“It hurts -” I gasped, wincing as he continued to push into me.

“It’s gonna,” he grunted, then dropped his head onto my chest and let out a groan. “Shit, Jay. You feel so good -”

He pulled out swiftly, then slammed into me with painful force.

“Randy! Ow, that really -”

“Pain’s fine, normal,” he forced out as he set a slow, burning rhythm. I nodded and tried to ignore the pain as he picked up his pace. As he went faster and faster, the pain slowly started to give way to pleasure.

The moment it actually began to feel good, Randy let out a low groan and dug his nails into the thigh he was still holding.

“I’m gonna cum. I can’t fucking stand it anymore. Fuck, Jay -”

Randy slammed into me one last time and then let out a shout, convulsing hard over me and then slumping down on top of me, panting hard. Had that… was that sex? Really? That was like, ten minutes. Max. That’s what Nikki was always going on about? This is what Randy could barely hold himself back from?

He slowly sat up and pulled out of me, and as I laid there watching him gain his composure and toss the condom away, a hollow feeling settled in the pit of my stomach. Like disappointment, but harsher. Colder.

Randy got up and came to my side, leaning down and kissing my forehead swiftly before disappearing into the bathroom. A moment later, I heard the water running. I sat up slowly, wincing at the ache that seemed to radiate all over my body. I stood gingerly and gathered my clothes, ready to get dressed and leave, until Randy leaned out of the bathroom.

“Do you wanna stay the night, baby?”

My aching heart jumped at his offer and I found myself nodding quickly before I knew what I was doing. He motioned for me to join him, and I rushed across the room to him. He gently took my clothes from me and sat them on the counter in the bathroom, and then pulled me into a hug.

A naked, kind of sweaty hug that was exactly what I needed. He rocked me back and forth and pressed a slow, gentle kiss into my hair as I melted against him. We slowly pulled back and motioned for the shower.

“Get cleaned up. I’ll find you something to sleep in.”

I did as he said and when I got out of the shower, I found one of his merch shirts sitting on the counter. It was warm and smelled like Randy; it was perfect. I tugged it on and put my hair back up in its bun, then shuffled out of the bathroom.

Randy was lying on the bed, the forgotten dinner unpacked and strewn over the bed. He patted the spot next to him and I hurried to his side, curling up on the bed against him. I couldn’t explain the sadness that was welling inside me; it was like all the lonely, cold nights I’d had after I ran away at 16 were coming back to haunt me.

I hadn’t lied to Randy - I’d wanted to have sex. So, what the hell Jamie? Why was I on the verge of tears? Why did curling up with Randy make me feel better? I had no idea, but if cuddling my boyfriend stopped me from crying, I’d take it.

We ate and had light discussion about the match we’d had tonight, and when we finished dinner he cleaned up for us. I slid under the covers as Randy shut the light off, and before the sadness could creep back, Randy curled up against my back and tucked me to his chest.

“I love you Jay. G’night,” he murmured, and moments later, I felt him snoring against me. I laid awake for a while longer, my mind going over and over what’d just happened. Had I made a mistake? Had this been the best thing since sliced bread, as Nikki always said sex was? What was gonna happen now?

I had no idea. There was only one thing I was sure of. One thing I was sure of, after all the crazy thoughts settled and sleep finally began to pull me under. The one thing that made this all make sense in all of this uncertainty.

As the sun began to peek through the curtains of the room and I finally let myself slip under, I murmured the one thing I knew for sure.

“I love you too, Randy.”