Canary and the Coal Mine

Had some errands to run. Catch you later baby.

Two days, one hour, fifty six minutes. Not like I was counting the time since I’d last talked to Randy or anything. I wasn’t that pathetic, right?

I sniffed and burrowed deeper into my pillow, shoving my phone to the floor. I didn’t want to get up, didn’t want to do anything but lay here and sulk in my own misery. Yeah, I was that pathetic.

It’d been one thing to wake up alone the morning after sleeping with Randy, with just that one text to go off of. But now, to not even hear from him at all through the weekend? I'd texted him more than a dozen times in the last two days, and called twice (and left a voicemail). I still hadn't gotten anything back. At all. Part of me was really beginning to worry that I'd made a bad decision.

Once again, I found myself in a slump. I needed to talk to Nikki, but I just couldn't. Not yet, anyways. In ten days, Randy and his ex were telling Alanna about the divorce, and then everything could come out. I could tell my friends, and I could finally tell Nikki everything I'd been keeping in.

She'd know what to think about all this. She could tell me why I felt so empty, so distant and upset for things I couldn't figure out.

I'd wanted to have sex with Randy. I did. Randy loved me, and I mean, why wouldn't I love him too? This was what a real relationship was like, right?

So then why does everything just feel wrong now? I groaned inwardly, curling deeper against my pillow. I'd just keep sleeping. It had worked so far this weekend, so it would keep working the next two weeks.

Thankfully, Raw was in California this week, which meant that Nikki and I got to be home for a few days. I was in my own room, in my own bed... I just wished I could enjoy it more. I'd started dozing off again when I heard footsteps outside my room. I went perfectly still as the door creaked open.

"Jellybean?" Nikki asked gently; I could hear her scoot inside and make for my bed. "Lunch is in an hour, and I still need to get you ready."

This time, my groan wasn't inward. Nikki dropped down next to me now that she knew I was awake, and I felt the covers tug back.

"Oh come on, it's not that bad."

"You said I have to wear a dress," I mumbled to my pillow; Nikki's hands started to play with my hair as she corrected,

"No, I said skirts were okay. But you're not going to eat in jeans and a t-shirt."

"Fine. I'll put a skirt on over my sweats."

"Absolutely not," she argued, standing up and ripping the covers off me completely before I could fight to keep them. I rolled my head to the side and glared at her as she clapped her hands together.

"Nicole -"

"I let you sulk by yourself all weekend, but enough's enough. You're getting your grumpy ass out of bed, letting me dress you up, and coming to lunch with your family." I opened my mouth to argue and got the dirtiest glare I'd seen come from Nikki's face. "That wasn't up for negotiation."

"Yes ma'am,"I muttered, holding my glare at her as she smirked and flounced out of my room. I let myself curl around my pillow again, every intention of sleeping a little longer.

Until my phone went off.

I practically threw myself off the bed, landing awkwardly against the wall as I scrambled to read the new text message.

From: Snickers
If you're not downstairs in two minutes I'm coming to pour water on you

Cursing under my breath, I shoved to my feet and resentfully marched down the stairs. John was at our kitchen table sipping a cup of coffee and idly reading the newspaper. He glanced up as I trudged into the living room and gave me a warm smile.

"There's miss grumpy gills," he teased; I glared at him as Nikki looked up from the couch. She legitimately had a pitcher of water sitting on our coffee table.

"Really?"

"I wasn't joking around," she informed me, getting up and putting her hands on her hips. "I'm snapping you out of this weird funk one way or another."

"Turning me into your Barbie doll is only therapy for you," I griped, admittedly a little more pissy than I needed to be with her.

Used to my attitude, my best friend just rolled her eyes and took my hand, tugging me over to the couch.

"Fine. Then you can tell me what's going on and we can actually talk about your problems like adults."

Silently, I turned and sat down in front of the couch. John snorted at my defiance as Nikki dropped down on the cushion behind me. I sent him his own glare as I crossed my arms and slumped down.

"That's what I thought." she began to run her hands through my hair again, humming to herself as she deliberated something. "You want your hair up or down?"

"Could you wrap it around my throat as tight as possible so I pass out and don't have to go?"

John snorted into his coffee again; I felt Nikki shrug as she started to brush out my tangles.

"I'll leave it down. Oh, and I could curl it! Ohmygosh, Jay. You're gonna be so freaking adorable! I mean, more than you already are. Ugh. I wish you'd let me do your hair all the time. Just because you're not a diva doesn't mean you can't get all dressed up. You could even, like, start a trend..."

As Nikki trailed off, going to town on my hair, I flicked the TV on and tried to let her talking and the mindless show drown out the emptiness clawing inside of me. I found myself gazing mindlessly down at my phone's blank screen, irritably clearing off the stupid alerts that kept popping up and giving me false hope.

By the time Nikki was done with my hair, I was even more upset and grumpy than when I'd woken up. She took note, but didn't push me into talking. Instead she settled on the floor in front of me to do my makeup, still carrying her one-sided conversation.

John - who had apparently left at some point in the last hour, came into my peripheral vision in a button-down shirt and a pair of dark slacks. He eyed me in amusement when Nikki finally decided she was done painting my face.

"Well look at you," he mused as Nikki handed me a mirror. She'd actually kept the makeup somewhat casual, and had settled for a baby pink lipstick instead of the god awful blood red she loved putting on me.

Really, I didn't give much thought to my looks. I knew I looked pretty decent on the days I brushed out my hair and didn't have any food smeared on my face, but I really never thought I was gorgeous. Not like Nikki or Brie. It was one of the reasons, deep down, that I'd never wanted to be a diva. If I didn't like how I looked, what would the world think about me?

I was much happier just having the focus on my wrestling talent, and hell, even my laughable height disadvantage over how repulsive I looked trying to be a WWE diva.

But when Nikki truly took the time (okay,okay, when I let her take the time) to fix me up, she always worked her magic. I actually looked gorgeous, like Nikki. She leaned into me and pressed her face to mine, grinning at our reflection.

"You know what? I can't believe I'm about to say this, but I agree with Dean." My brows furrowed together and I gave her a questioning look. "As good as you look right now, I still think you look better without it on."

Just hearing how much my best friend loved me and cared about me was enough to get me sobbing like the confused, scared little kid I was right now. My bottom lip actually trembled and I pulled away quickly, laughing to cover up the tremor in my voice as I threw out,

"Quit flirting with me, your boyfriend can hear you!"

Though John laughed, Nikki didn't answer. I risked a glance back and had to look away again before I actually burst into tears. She was seeing right through my stupid attempts to act like I was okay. God, it was TLC all over again.

She knew I was hiding something, and if she kept up this whole 'love me unconditionally' thing she was so good at doing, I was gonna break. Again.

So I hurriedly grabbed the dress she'd laid out for me and practically ran to the bathroom, changing and forcing my tears back down before they ruined my makeup and gave me away.

I just had to make it through lunch and I could go back to being grumpy and sullen on my own. Then I could either talk to Randy and sort this all out, or cry in peace and be miserable by myself.

At this point, I was open to anything that made this empty, sick feeling go away. Anything.

-x-

Nikki swatted my hand down as I tugged self-consciously at the hem of my dress. When I started fidgeting with my curls again, she rolled her eyes and just took my hand in hers.

“You look fine.”

“I feel like a freak,” I muttered, following her and John into the restaurant. Brie and Bryan, already at the table, stood to greet us with wide smiles. Nikki leaned to me and whispered,

“For once, you’re actually dressed like you should be. You blend in. So quit worrying, okay? You know I wouldn’t let you out of the house unless you looked perfect.”

I opened my mouth to argue but was cut off as Bryan came up to me. I went for a hug but he moved to step around me.

“Excuse me, sorry. I’m looking for my friend, maybe you’ve seen her. About three feet tall, usually dresses like a trash gremlin -”

“Oh, you’re hilarious,” I griped, blocking his reach as he went to rope me into a hug. He gave me a bemused look as I crossed my arms defensively.

Okay, I was being a jerk.

Good. Make everyone else miserable with me, I reasoned, pointedly ignoring the looks being exchanged by Brie and Nikki. Bryan backed off, but his girlfriend wouldn’t.

“You look so sweet, Jamie,” Brie gushed, pulling me into a hug - crossed arms and all. I huffed and tried to wriggle free, but she just held tighter. “Uh-uh. You’re not getting away that easy.”

“I’m hungry,” I feigned; of course, Nikki had to speak up.

“Yeah, that’s what happens when you don’t eat all weekend.”

“You didn’t eat?” Brie fretted, now pulling back, but only to stare up at me in concern.

"Oh my god, you guys. I ate. And now I want to eat again. Can we just -" I motioned irritably to the table; the others shared looks, but didn't argue anymore.

John sat at the head of the table with Nikki to his left and myself to his right. Bryan sat next to me, and Brie sat across from him; one big, cozy family. The others slowly picked up a conversation about tonight's show, thankfully leaving me alone. I didn't want to talk and be all chipper and bubbly.

I wanted to sit here in this stupid dress at this stupid restaurant and wait for my stupid boyfriend to pull his head out of his ass. How hard was it to just send a text telling me everything was okay? Or even a simple 'hi'?! Was the sex that awful that he never wanted to speak to me again? Was he totally grossed out by me now that he'd seen me naked? Was I not up to his standards enough? Was I -

"Jamie."

Bryan nudged my arm and I snapped out of my thoughts. The others were looking at me, concerned, and the waitress at my side gave me a smile.

"What would you like to drink?" she asked for what I assumed was the second time. I cleared my throat and said quickly,

"Water's fine. Thanks."

As she walked away, the others went back to their discussion but Bryan leaned closer to me.

"Seriously, Jay. What's wrong?"

"Nothing," I mumbled, sinking a little lower in my seat and settling a glare onto my silverware. Bryan stifled a sigh.

"You can talk to me, you know. If there's something going on."

"I'm just tired. I didn't sleep very well," I dismissed, which wasn't really a lie. Bryan clearly didn't like my answer, but he let it drop and turned back to the others.

The lunch was seriously just dragging on. By the time we'd gotten our appetizers, I was ready to slide all the way off my chair and hide under the table until we could leave.

The soup sounded so good in theory, but now it just looked goopy and unappealing. Idly, I swirled my food around with my spoon, occasionally scooping up some of the veggies and letting them plunk back into the bowl.

"You're not eating?" John noted, of course loud enough for the others to hear. Bryan and Brie had a concerned stare-off over the table as Nikki leaned towards me.

"I can ask them to bring you something else –"

"I'm fine, Nicole," I sighed, pointed taking a bite of soup. It slid down my throat like tasteless syrup, pooling in my stomach and doing nothing to fill the sad, empty ache inside of me.

She and John now started sharing the same look as the other two; I was ready to throw this stupid soup on all of them. I turned away to keep from losing my already short temper and froze when I found myself staring at Dean.

He was following the hostess through the sea of tables, headed for one of his own with Roman and Seth right behind him. A slow, surprised smile curled over his lips when he recognized me; he held my stare the whole way to his table, which was just a few back from ours.

I saw him pull something out of his pocket, and he stared intently at his lap before finally glancing back up at me. A moment later, my phone vibrated in my lap.

blue is my favorite color.

My eyes flicked down to the blue dress I was wearing, and I felt my cheeks explode with a blush. Before I could stop it, I was grinning down at my phone.

I'll trade outfits with Seth so he can dazzle you.

I looked up and watched him read his text; he snorted and shook his head. His eyes met mine again and I saw his shy, honest smile briefly before he ducked down again.

nah. dresses aint his style. hes a skirt n fishnets type a guy.

I snorted so loud I made Bryan jump. Dean started laughing too, making Roman and Seth stare at him in bewilderment.

"What's so funny?" John asked pointedly, giving me a look as he eyed my phone in my lap. He was a man of many rules, and I knew he hated phones at the table.

"Nothing, sorry. Just a text from..." I cleared my throat and improvised, "an old friend from the indies."

I went to work on my soup to keep from having to elaborate, giving Dean a quick glance as I did so. He shot me a wink before turning to say something to Roman. Bryan huffed at my side.

"None of them ever text me."

"That's because you never reply to anyone," I pointed out, already finished with my soup. Okay, so I'd been a little hungry and it actually tasted really freaking good.

"I always text back," he argued. This time Brie scoffed and gave him a look.

"Yeah, a week later. Half the time it's about something totally different, too."

"Oh, don't take grumpy's side. You're just mad I didn't see that text last week -"

"I was stuck at the store for an hour, Bryan!"

"You could've called me instead!"

"I did! But someone was too busy fondling his kale -"

"Okay, gross," I gagged, making a face at my big brother. He scowled and went back to arguing with his girlfriend.

"I was cleaning them, Brianna!"

"For an hour?!"

I rolled my eyes and looked over at Nikki; she looked amused too, but there was another expression on her face. She was scrutinizing me.

"What?" I asked, raising my brows.

"You're different, all of a sudden."

"I told you I was hungry. The soup filled -"

"You weren't eating the soup just a few minutes ago. You were sulking. Now you're playful and giggling. Oh, and I totally saw a blush."

"Okay, Sherlock Bella," I scoffed, trying not to look as guilty and giggly as I felt. "Just eat your salad."

She took an obligatory bite, but kept her narrowed eyes on me. When our meals came out, the others fell into silence and started eating. I spared a glance at the Shield's table and frowned. Roman and Seth were smirking in my direction, and Dean's seat was empty.

What?

A hand rested on the back of my chair; mint and leather wreathed around me. Oh my god. He wasn't seriously...

Nikki was the first to look up. Her fork paused halfway to her mouth and her brows rose up to her hairline. John noticed and glanced at her, then followed her gaze. Instantly he sat up straighter and let a frown come over his face. He went to say something but Dean beat him to it.

"Y’mind if we borrow your steak sauce?"

Bryan choked on his grilled kale and whipped around in his seat to stare at the Shield member hovering over me. Brie's eyes went wide as she finally looked up as well. Nikki, though, looked devilishly pleased with something. She had a wide smirk on her face, and now her sharp eyes were burning into me.

She'd figured out who I'd really been texting.

"I'm sure your waiter could bring you some," John told him coolly, tensing as Dean moved closer. He kept his hand on the back of my chair, and now leaned his other on the table between John and I.

Which meant he practically had one of his gorgeous arms wrapped around me, holding me to his side. I felt his thumb brush over my shoulder as he said,

"Maybe. But I figured Super Cena could be a gentleman and help us out, y'know?"

Before John could get any more riled up I turned in my seat to look up at Dean. He tilted his head to the side, feeling me move, and for just a heartbeat my mind short-circuited.

It'd been a while since I'd been so close to Dean, and I'd forgotten how gorgeous he really was, underneath his gruff attitude and near-permanent scowls. His soft blue eyes sparked with mischief, clearly enjoying making the whole table uncomfortable. His tongue poked out over his bottom lip for a moment as he let me observe him.

And then I quickly remembered the other four people at the table and forced myself out of his trance.

"What if we need our steak sauce?"

"Then you can come take it back," he assured. "I'd like an excuse to ruffle your feathers, Finch."

As I went to throw something back at him, Dean leaned forward. He kept his hand on the table, and used the one on my chair to reach forward and grab the bottle of A1.

And then the cheeky bastard grabbed a piece of my chicken right off the plate.

"Oi!" I laughed, and then quickly tried to look angry like I probably should've been. He backed away from the table as both John and Bryan got to their feet, holding his hands up in surrender as he popped the chicken in his mouth.

He gave me a swift wink, then turned and made his way back to their table. John and Bryan sat back down, both casting mistrustful scowls towards the Shield as they grumbled about 'teaching them a lesson in the ring'.

As I fought to keep the goofy grin off my face, I caught the twins staring at me. Brie looked mildly confused and suspicious, but Nikki was beyond amused, smirking at me so hard it had to hurt.

"Can I help you?" I asked, taking a bite of my chicken to keep myself from caving to her knowing look.

"You can, actually. You can get our steak sauce back."

"Nicole, she doesn't need to be instigating anything with the Shield," John argued. "We can just ask for a new bottle."

"Where's the fun in that?" she challenged; oh, she knew she had me. I stuffed more chicken in my mouth.

"That was a total power play," Bryan added, actually angered by Dean's actions. "He just wanted to see what we'd let him get away with."

"I don't think so," Brie said slowly, sharp eyes narrowing as she stared me down. "I think that was something else."

"What else could that've been?" Bryan scoffed as John flagged our waitress for another bottle of A1.

To my horror, the twins shared a look, and they both turned back to me. Oh, god. They were both smirking. They had me pinned, and the conversation was about to turn down a road I didn't want it on.

The second the waitress sat the bottle down, I snatched it up and stood quickly.

"You're right, Bryan. We can't let the Shield dominate our lunch." I shook the sauce as I backed from the table. "I'll reclaim our dignity."

Before John could argue or the twins could throw me under the bus, I turned and scampered off.

-x-
Dean

Dean's eyes were on her the moment she got to her feet. If he was bein' honest, they'd never left her. How could he look away? He'd been tellin' the truth - blue was his favorite color, and she wore it really fuckin' well.

The dress wasn't even slutty. Not like the strips'a fabric the skanks wore in the Indies. Shit, it was almost to her fuckin' knees, but with Finch it didn't matter.

He was so fuckin' caught up in her he hadn't realized she was comin' his way. He sat his fork down and leaned back in his chair, fixin' her with a smirk as she sat in the empty chair beside him.

An' holy fuck. It'd been hard to keep himself focused at her table, but now that she was away from her friends...

She had that shit on her face again, no thanks to Wonder Twin there. He liked her without all the paint. As fuckin' sappy as it sounded, he really liked her the way she was. The dress an' the curls were a nice touch, but she didn't need'a get fixed up like she was.

Not that she didn't look really fuckin' good.

She sat a full bottle of steak sauce on the table and motioned for the one Dean had beside his plate. He played dumb; any excuse to stare at her a little longer.

"If you don't mind," she hinted, smile tugging on those full lips. He could still feel 'em on his from all those months ago. Soft, smooth, eagerly brushin' over his as he drowned in the taste of her -

"You already have another one, you don't need ours," Seth argued. Dean coulda slammed his face into his goddamn plate, tryin’ta get ridda her like that. Fucker.

"It's not yours. I let you guys borrow it," she threw to him, not at all daunted by Seth's shitty attitude. Those soft green eyes flicked back to him, an' he was lost all over again. "I think a fair trade's in order."

"Oh yeah?" he challenged, just now realizin' how dry his mouth was. How hard it was t' get the words out at all, with her lookin' like she was.

"Mhmm," she hummed, leaning into him as she reached over and grabbed the bottle. She smelled soft and sweet, like honey an’ fresh air. Shit, she was fuckin' intoxicating.

As she moved back to her seat, he expected her to get up. Instead, though, she propped her elbows on the table and leaned towards him.

"You owe me a bite."

He seriously fuckin' considered leaning over and doin' just that. Hell, if her friends weren't watchin' them like hawks his teeth would be buried in her neck. One hand cuppin' her jaw, holdin' her in place, the other runnin' through her curls, pullin' her closer -

Dean tore himself outta his dangerous thoughts; he kept thinkin' it, an' he'd have her laid out on the table before he could fuckin' stop himself.

He still hadn't answered, so she pressed on.

"I mean, you guys are the Shield of Justice, right? So fair's fair. I get a bite."

"You're pretty full'a yourself, darlin," he teased; he was already cutting off a piece of steak.

"Well, considering you ate my chicken, I need to get full off of something."

Roman snorted, and Seth rolled his eyes as Dean just gave her a toothy smile. He'd been lucky so far today... could he work it just a little longer?

Instead of handing her his fork, he grabbed the piece of steak and held it out to her. She let out a laugh of surprise, nose scrunchin' up as she smiled at him.

"Really, Dean?"

He fuckin' loved hearin' her say his name.

"What, y'don't want it?" he teased, waving the piece of steak in her direction.

"I'm not just grabbing food," she started, so Dean shrugged and went to pop it in his own mouth. Her hand shot out and wrapped around his wrist, pulling his arm back.

"Fine," she huffed, an' then she bent down and took it right from his goddamn fingers.

His whole body short-circuited as she pulled back, lips brushing over his thumb. He watched her doggedly as she chewed and swallowed, rolling her eyes up as she pretended to think about something.

Dean couldn't even fuckin' breathe. In all his twenty-seven years on this goddamn earth, that'd been the sexiest fuckin' thing a girl had ever done to him.

An' neither of them were even naked.

He couldn't take his eyes off her now; his whole body was screamin' for him to just fuckin' take her. Right here, right now.

"Not bad," she teased him, standing up and grabbing the steak sauce. As she backed up for her table now, she held his gaze and said simply, "oh, and you can consider me ruffled."

-x-

I was pretty sure Nikki hadn't quit grinning since we'd left the restaurant. Bryan and John were focused on the blatant disrespect the Shield had displayed, but the twins...

"The next time we need to get her in a good mood, we'll just invite Dean over for dinner," Nikki decided, taping up my wrists for me.

Tonight, Vickie had announced a Beat the Clock challenge. The winner would get to pick their entrance number for Royal Rumble, and somehow I'd actually gotten a spot to compete. Randy had, too. Which meant at some point tonight I could end up in the ring with him. Maybe then I'll get a chance to actually talk to him, I thought irritably.

Lunch had actually done me some good. And no, it wasn't because of Dean. Mostly. I mean, yeah, messing around with him was fun. But that totally wasn't the only reason. Despite what the twins thought.

"Yeah. Clearly finger food is a real pick-me-up. Who knew?" Brie mused, earning a scowl from me. Okay, I’d totally forgotten that everyone was watching when I leaned over and ate food out of Dean’s hand. I groaned to myself again at the thought.

"The soup cheered me up, okay?" I tried for the hundredth time. The girls shared a look, which confused me more than anything.

Mama Brie was okay with the flirting? I mean, not that that's what had happened. That's just what Nikki had said. We were friends. Which, apparently was okay with her? I had no idea.

All I knew is that both of them were driving me crazy and I still hadn't heard a thing from Randy. I'd gone from being inexplicably depressed and sullen to being irrationally angry at the radio silence.

No, you're not irrational, I reminded myself as Nikki finished with the tape. He hasn't talked to you in almost three days. Totally justifiable.

Every time I started to get worked up, though, Dean's face came into my mind. The look in his eyes when I'd eaten the steak right out of his fingers. The way his gaze had burned into me and rooted me to the spot, searing my soul and -

There was a knock at the door, and all three of us looked up. My heart stuttered for half a second and then flew into overdrive.

Randy gave me a wide smile, and glanced at the twins.

"Mind if I steal Jay for a few?"

Before the twins could answer I was on my feet and rushing for the door. To play it cool and give us more time - without either of the extremely observant women behind me catching onto anything - I grabbed my wallet out of my jacket.

"How about we go get something to eat from the arena?"

Randy must've figured out my plan because he nodded eagerly and motioned for me to lead the way.

"I don't know about you, but I'd kill for some cheesy fries right about now."

"Agreed," I said, glancing back at the twins. Thankfully, neither looked suspicious or smug like they had been all freakin' day. Brie was on her phone, and Nikki had started to touch up her makeup. "I'll be back in a bit."

"Don't get yourself into trouble," Brie warned.

"I'll behave!" I promised; Nikki and Randy both snorted at that.

Raw would be starting in just half an hour, and Randy's match with Cesaro was the first of the night. He didn't waste any time, leading us straight to his locker room and then shutting us in.

Though this is what I'd been waiting for, I had no idea where to even begin. Alone with him after the last few days, I didn't know if I wanted to punch him or hug him.

"I'm so sorry, Jay," he said quickly; the expression on my face must have been as torn as I felt. "My phone crapped out on me Saturday and I still haven't had a chance to get a new one."

My arms folded over my chest as I stared up at him, doubtful.

"You didn't even wake me up before you left." My voice sound small and empty, like I'd felt all weekend. Regret flickered over his face. Good.

"I had an interview that Hunter and Steph scheduled last minute. I was already running late so I just grabbed my stuff and ran." He shrugged his shoulders and looked to the side as he added, “I mean, I thought you would've waited there for me. I came back to come take you to breakfast and you were gone."

Guilt surfaced in me but I forced it down. This wasn't on me, and I wouldn't let it get turned around.

"I stayed in the room until checkout, and you never showed."

He blinked in surprise, and then said quickly,

"Well, I thought you might be in the lobby -"

"Did you really expect me to sit in the lobby hoping you might come back?"

"No, no," he said quickly, holding his hands up to sooth me as my tone turned sharp. "I mean, yes. But that's not - I didn't mean it like that, baby."

I turned my head away and let out a breath of frustration. I still didn't know if I wanted to be mad or tackle him with a hug. He'd kept me waiting this whole weekend. I mean, couldn't he have found some way to talk to me?

Or... was I just being clingy and overreacting? He was a busy guy. He had things to do, and he seemed so sincere... did I really want to fight over something like that? Now that I had him here with me and I knew what had happened?

No. I didn't. So I switched gears and voiced the other thing that'd been bothering me since Friday night.

"I just... I was worried that maybe... I just, that was my first time," I mumbled, feeling my face heat up as I dropped my eyes to the ground. "I thought I wasn't good enough and you -"

Randy's arms encircled me immediately and he hugged me tight to his chest. Warmth and relief spread through me and I hugged him back instantly, burying my face against his shirt.

"Not at all, Jay," he murmured against my hair as he pressed a kiss to my temple. "Exact opposite. You were fantastic."

"Really?" I managed, pulling back to look up at him. The moment I did, he caught my lips with his own and kissed me softly. He pulled back to rest his forehead on mine as he teased,

"Maybe a little. And I won't lie... I like being your first."

"Even though I'm awkward and didn't know what the hell I was doing?" I giggled as we pulled apart. Randy shot me a wink as he pulled his trunks out of his bag.

"Even so. Hey, why don't you go get something to eat real quick? I gotta go chat with Hunter before the show starts."

"Sure,” I shrugged; as if on cue, my stomach rumbled. “I mean, I gotta get my strength up so I can beat your time tonight anyways."

He narrowed his eyes dangerously and I gave him an innocent smile.

"Watch yourself, Lawless. I don't have any problem handling your attitude."

"Bring it, Orton," I threw back, grinning at him before slipping back into the hall. The warmth from Randy's hug lingered with me as I scampered through the arena.

I was still bitter about being left on radio silence for the better part of two days, but I mean... it was clear it'd just been an understanding, and now that I knew why and knew that he wasn't having doubts about me.... I wouldn't linger on the past.

I'd focus my efforts on getting myself a corn dog without drawing too much attention from the fans.

Luckily, as the show had just kicked off, there weren't too many stragglers hanging around the concession stands. I slipped out, bought my corndog (okay, okay. Two corndogs...) and ducked back into the roped off sections. It was where talent and security entered and left through when they needed to access the audience; notably, where the Shield came up top from their dungeon locker room to make their entrance.

I finished off my first corndog as I made my way around the building, listening to the show and the fans. Part of me even considered heading down to torment Dean and the boys, until I saw Brad Maddox slip inside through a back door. He pressed himself to the wall, looked back and forth wildly, and then began to inch down the hall. I knew that little weasel wasn't supposed to be inside, and certainly not supposed to be in the employee’s only section.

Clearly, Brad hadn’t spotted me. Taking a bite of my corn dog, I leaned a hip against the wall and watched his ridiculous antics. He crouched as low as his skin-tight dress pants would let him - about two inches - and tried to duck behind every available obstacle. In a minute, he went less than ten feet.

I finished off my snack and shoved my hands in my pockets, strolling slowly up behind him and following the minimal progress he was making. He looked back and forth, then hopped forward and went to open one of the ‘Employee Only’ doors; I reached out and rested a hand on it to keep it shut.

He gave a few experimental tugs, and then slowly tilted his head back to look up at me. A wary, shit-eating grin spread over his face and he let out a nervous chuckle.

“Heeeeeyyyyyy Janice…” he said slowly, rising back up to his full height. Though he was taller than me, it was clear who had the upper hand.

“I’m Jamie,” I reminded him. “And you’re fired, if I recall correctly.”

“Well see, that’s where you’re wrong,” he laughed, shaking his head. “It’s such a funny story. You see, what happened was -”

He spun on his heel and took off at a surprisingly fast pace, his dress shoes squeaking viciously in his wake. I shot after him and gained on him before he even reached the next employee door. Using all my weight, I threw myself forward and slammed into his back, tackling him to the ground.

Brad landed hard underneath me and cushioned my fall; he let out a low, guttural groan as I hopped to my feet and dusted my hands off. Easy peasy. I reached down, grabbed one of his ankles, and pulled him down the hall, back towards the entrance to the arena. Thankfully, his sweater vest made him slide over the tile with little effort on my part.

“You’re a bitch, you know that?” he spat as I let his ankle drop. He shoved to his feet, hurriedly fixing his sweater vest as I motioned for the security guards.

“You bet your ass I am. I catch you in the arena again and I’m breaking you in half. Got it?”

He flipped me off as security grabbed his arms and marched him away. I gave him a two-fingered salute and turned to go back inside.

That was, until I saw the Rock standing outside the entrance to my right, arguing with security.

“You can’t come in, orders straight from Vickie,” one guard said. “Paying customers with a ticket only.”

“And let me guess,” Rock growled. “No one here’s gonna sell me a ticket.”

When none of the security guards answered, Rock let out a snarl and stalked off towards the parking lot. I let my gaze flicker between him and the ticket stand… I was sure there were still tickets left.

And, I mean, I was just being generous. Helping out a fellow wrestler. Vickie hadn’t told me I couldn’t buy a ticket, then happen to lose it by accident… right?

Making sure security wasn’t watching me, I scampered back inside and booked it to the ticket stand. The guy behind the counter clearly didn’t recognize me, and lucky the fans lingering nearby didn’t notice as I pulled out my wallet and leaned over.

“One general admission ticket,” I said quickly, flashing a smile. The guy didn’t even look up as he ran my card. When he handed both that and the ticket to me, I gave a quick thanks and bolted straight outside, circling back around to the talent parking lot where Rock had disappeared to.

He was just coming up to his car when I came around the front of him, cutting off his exit. The Rock slowly lifted his one brow as he stared down at me.

“It’s Jamie, right?” he asked slowly, and I nodded.

“Sure is,” I told him, and then held up the ticket. As he watched, I let the ticket drop to the ground, and then looked around pointedly. “Huh, guess I lost my unused general admission ticket to tonight’s show. Bummer.”

I saw him look between the ticket and myself; a slow, sinister smile spread over his face.

“What a shame,” he said slowly, kneeling down and grabbing the ticket, then stuffing it in his pocket. I smirked and gave him a two fingered salute as I backed towards the talent entrance to the stadium.

“A shame indeed,” I agreed; we gave each other a quick nod and then both turned and took off in opposite directions.

YES! I was so friends with the Rock.

Man, I’d have to go brag to the twins! I couldn’t wait to see Nikki’s face… well, actually I could wait. Because I’d lost track of time (what a surprise…) and Randy’s match was in just a few minutes. I liked seeing the Viper work in the ring up close, and maybe he’d give in this time. It was actually a lot of fun valeting my secret boyfriend.

As I suspected, Randy was at gorilla doing a few stretches as Cesaro made his entrance. He looked surprised to see me as I came up to his side.

“Get your snack food?” he asked, grabbing his water bottle and then upending it all over himself as I nodded eagerly; I made a face.

“Why do you do that? You don’t even have any hair to slick back.”

“It cools me down.”

I let my eyes sweep over him as I shrugged.

“Huh, doesn’t work. You still look hot to me.” Randy snorted and rolled his eyes as I giggled to myself. When he didn’t laugh, I scowled. “Oh come on, that was funny.”

“There’s a reason I’m not laughing.”

“Oh whatever asshole,” I scoffed. “You ready to do this?” I moved forward and Randy’s damp hand caught my own to tug me back.

“Where you goin’?”

“Out to the ring with you?” I tried hopefully; the look he gave me squashed my plan.

“I don’t need a valet tonight, Jay.”

“What about a guest commentator?” I offered; he gave me a smirk and leaned closer.

“You’re too beautiful for me to ignore, baby. All you’d do out there is distract me.”

By look on his face, I knew I had to be bright red. He laughed at my reaction as I finally managed to get out,

“I guess I can stay back here then.”

“I’ll find you after the match,” he murmured, rolling his shoulders back to loosen up. I ran my hand down his water-slicked chest, lingering on his stomach. He smirked at me, glanced around briefly, then stepped up and pressed a chaste kiss to my lips.

“Good luck,” I told him, pulling my hand back. I made a face at my now-wet fingers and Randy laughed. As he walked for gorilla, I reached back and wiped my hand over his trunks, giving his ass a quick squeeze.

He gave me a sharp glance over his shoulder and I gave an innocent blink.

“Gotta make sure I get it all off.”

Randy rolled his eyes and let a smile creep onto his face, heading through the curtains as his music started. Seriously, how great was this relationship now? I mean, there were the lingering doubts in my head after the crappy weekend, but every couple had their kinks to work out, right?

Feeling more than a little giddy, I practically ran through the halls, making a beeline for the divas locker room. Maybe my luck would hold out and the twins would have completely forgotten about our lunch –

"Miss Lawless!"

Vickie's nails-on-chalkboard voice made me cringe into my shirt. Reluctantly, I turned and smiled up at her as she bustled down the hall.

"At your service, Mrs. Guerrero!"

She gave me an unamused frown as she stopped at my side. A forced smile came over her face and I held my breath; did she know about the ticket? Play it cool, Jamie. Innocent until proven guilty.

"I was told by our security -" oh shit... "that you helped remove Brad Maddox from the building earlier tonight."

Play. It. Cool.

"I sure did. I was under the impression he's still fired."

"He is. Which is why I don’t want to see him on my show!”

I nodded quickly as I started to back down the hallway; the sooner I got away, the less chance I’d have to get in trouble. John and Brie would be so proud of me!

“Totally agree with you, boss. Let’s hope he stays away this time -”

“Oh, he will. If you want to wrestle tonight, you’ll make sure of it.” Wait, what? I paused my slow-motion escape to stare at her incredulously. Her face twisted into a devilish smile and she crossed her arms victoriously. “That’s right. If I see that little weasel in this building, you can kiss match goodbye.”

“Isn’t that what security’s for?”

“Seeing as my security’s busy keeping The Rock outside -” not for long… “- and you’ve taken it upon yourself to get rid of Brad Maddox twice, this shouldn’t be an issue for you.”

Before I could object again, Vickie smirked triumphantly and turned on her heel to march back down the hall. Great. Just great. That’s the last time I ever proactively tried to be helpful. Hell, if I didn’t want my match so much tonight, I’d go let Brad back in myself just to piss her off.

At least Rock should be finding his way in soon enough, I reasoned as I made for the Diva’s locker room. Every Vickie cloud had its silver lining, right? As I rounded the corner, I could hear the twins arguing about something that didn’t seem to revolve around me. At least they’d hopefully dropped the interrogation act and we could move past their obnoxious delusions.

“That’s disgusting Nicole,” Brie whined, making a face at her sister as I came up to the couch they were stretched out on. “Why the hell would you have sex in a pool? Do you know how dirty pool water is?”

“Not all of them! Ours is like, super clean!” Nikki defended, flipping her hair over her shoulder as she smirked at her sister. “Well, I’m sure it’s a little dirty now after John and I -”

“So what you’re saying is I can never swim in our pool again,” I groaned, turning around instantly. A hand locked around my wrist and I was tugged backwards before I could pretend to leave.

“Jellybean! You were gone for like, ever!” Nikki gushed. Once I was close enough, she leaned over and wrapped her arms around my waist, suplexing me over the arm of the couch and onto her lap, snuggling up to me.

“Ew, get off her,” Brie whined, shoving Nikki and making a face. “She doesn’t want you touching her after what you and John did this weekend.”

I made a face of agreement and squirmed my way free, curling up on Brie’s lap instead. Nikki glared at her sister.

“Oh, like you’re so innocent, miss three orgasms in a row. “

Instantly I slid off Brie’s lap onto the floor.

“You’re both heathens,” I threw out, leaning against the couch. Nikki’s hands instantly went to playing with my hair. “Damien Sandow would be disgusted with you.”

“Doesn’t that make you proud, then?” Nikki pointed out; I tipped my head back to give her a wicked grin.

“The proudest. Now hush, I wanna watch this match.”

“So if Randy wins, would you really try to beat his time?”

“Well yeah,” I laughed. “Friend or not, I wanna pick my spot.”

“What number do you want?” Brie asked as the bell rang to start the match. I watched Randy for a few moments, observing the unbelievably attractive man in the ring before finally saying,

“15. Puts me halfway. Makes it easier to win but I’ve still got some time to go so my victory will be more impressive.”

“Just pick number 30,” Brie argued; I scoffed. “What?”

“If I just pick number 30, when I win it’ll look cheap. I’m still willing to work for my victory.”

As Brie went to argue, Nikki cut her off by saying,

“Like, is Randy Orton really hot? Or is it just me?”

Sitting on the ground, the girls couldn’t see the look of surprise come over me as I froze. To make things worse, Brie made a noise of agreement. Nikki nudged my head and prompted an answer. I blanched for a second, then managed,

“No, he looks pretty cool. I mean, that’s why he dumps water on himself, y’know?”

Both girls laughed and Nikki rolled her eyes.

“You know what I meant.”

“Well don’t make her answer, that’s weird,” Brie cut in, making a face at her sister. “He’s her friend. And he’s like twenty years older than her. She doesn’t need to think about him like that.”

“So what, ‘flirting’ with Dean Ambrose is okay, but saying Randy’s hot is weird?” Nikki threw back; I made a noise of alarm and turned to glare up at the twins.

“I was not flirting, and I never said Randy was hot!”

“Well do you think he is?”

“Nicole!” Brie scolded, shoving her sister again. “Looking at someone as a friend is a lot different than looking at them romantically!”

“No one has said anything about being romantic -” I started; really, my attempts were a lost cause.

“You are such a prude,” Nikki argued. Brie smirked.

“That’s not what Bryan said last night -”

“Guys,” I groaned, clamping my hands over my ears as I turned my attention fully to Randy’s match again, just hoping they’d let all this drop. We were nearly ten minutes in and still no pin. If he didn’t hurry up, he’d lose the challenge on his own.

Eleven minutes hit. I was more nervous for him to finish up than I was for my own match. If I lost… well, I was still in the Rumble. That’s all that mattered. But if Randy lost, he’d be pissed. And I really didn’t want an angry boyfriend tonight.

Finally, though, Randy hit the RKO and it was done. He flipped over Cesaro and tugged his leg up for the pin. As the ref hit the three count, the clock stopped at 11:36; I grimaced. He’d won, but with that time…

“I’m gonna go find Randy,” I told the twins; they hardly noticed, still bickering about their sex lives. I made faces at them as I passed, shaking my head and leaving them to it. Freaks.

As I guessed, Randy was pissed. He came around the corner and threw his fist into one of the storage crates, knocking the whole stack to the ground. The poor stagehands scattered down the hall, giving him a wide berth. If he didn’t cool down he’d get himself in trouble.

"Hey, hey," I said quickly, rushing to him and grabbing his wrist, pulling him back before he punched the wall. "Randy, it's okay -"

"It's not fucking okay!" he snarled, shoving me off of him as he pulled his hand free. I stumbled to the side and tripped on the crates he'd knocked over. I barely caught myself on the wall and kept from falling.

Randy's anger immediately left him and he rushed to my side to help steady me.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that," he said quickly, his eyes flicking worriedly between my own. "Are you okay, Jay?"

"Yeah, yeah," I promised. "I'm sorry. I know you want space when you're mad -"

"That's not an excuse," he cut in, squeezing my shoulders gently before running his hands down my arms. "You were just trying to help. I shouldn't have pushed you."

He led me down the hall and around the corner, away from the others staring at us. The second we were out of their site, he tucked me to him. Was he really that worried over what’d just happened?

"Randy, it's okay. I'm fine. Really."

He blew out a heavy breath and nodded as we pulled apart. We stood in the hallway for a few minutes, listening to the bustle of the backstage crew and action in the ring from the monitor until Randy sighed,

"I'm not winning the challenge."

"You don't know that," I argued. "It's high, but it's not that bad."

"You're telling me you won't beat Ziggler in under ten minutes?"

Oh, yeah. I was the other challenge. I shrugged my shoulders and glanced at him, wanting to cheer him up a bit.

"You never know. I could -"

“Hey guys!”

I stopped instantly; I knew that voice.

“Oh you’ve got to be kidding me,” I growled, hurrying around the corner and looking up at the monitor. Sure enough, Brad was just climbing over the barricade behind commentary. Cole and King both looked at each other with exasperation.

He grabbed a chair, pulled it up, and put on a headset. I let out a heavy sigh and pinched the bridge of my nose. Vickie was gonna kill me if she saw him on commentary. I could kiss my Beat the Clock challenge goodbye.

“I need to go take care of that,” I told Randy, backing down the hall. He gave me an exasperated look and I held up my hands. “I’m actually following orders this time!”

“Whatever you say, trouble magnet,” he teased; I stuck my tongue out and him and then turned to practically sprint to gorilla.

The crew by the stairs signaling for a camera to turn to me; they knew what I was out here for. As I made my way down the ramp I glanced at the match taking place. Show and Zack Ryder were in the ring, and it wasn’t going good for the broski. Show hit him with a knockout punch and by the time I was stalking around the ring, the three-count was over.

Brad glanced up and spotted me instantly; his eyes widened and he pulled off his headset.

“Well guys, I uh, I got a few other job opportunities -”

“What did I say?!” I snapped, planting my hands on the announce table in front of him. “I said if I caught you in the arena again -”

“So great seeing you guys,” he said to the men beside him as he backed for the barricade. I skirted the announce table as he hopped into the crowd; I was halfway over the wall myself when Show called out,

“Hey, cabbage patch!” when I didn’t look back, he added, “when I talk to you, little girl, I expect you to pay attention!”

Excuse him? I turned to stare up at him incredulously, my temper telling me to go in the ring and shut his mouth. He smirked down at me and sneered,

“Let me give you a preview of what’s gonna happen at the Royal Rumble to any little obnoxious brats that get in my way.”

I swung myself back over the barricade and snagged a microphone off the announce table as Show put a boot over Zack Ryder’s chest, still smirking down at me. The crowd was booing him, and there were mixes of a ‘LAWLESS!’ chant starting up. I couldn’t just let him sit here and run his mouth. Brad could wait for his ass-kicking.

“Really? You wanna call me out?” I growled to Show. “Wasn’t it just a few weeks ago when you came crying to me asking for help against Sheamus because you were too scared to put on your big girl panties and handle him yourself?”

The smirk dropped off Show’s face.

“You really think I’m gonna be worried about you on Sunday? Is David Otunga gonna hold your hand and walk you to the ring? Gonna tell all the other mean wrestlers not to pick on his itty bitty Showy-kins?”

“You better watch what you say, girl -”

“Or what? You’ll tell on me?” I put on my whiniest voice to add, “Booker! Jamie was being mean to me!”

Show’s face scrunched up in anger; it just egged me on even more. The crowd was roaring with laughter and chanting for me. Even Cole and King were snickering into their headsets.

“You see this? See this right here?” Show snarled into his mic, pointing at Zack who still hadn’t moved from under his boot. “You see what I can do? What I will do?”

“You’re standing on an unconscious man that’s half your size. That’s not impressive. You’re a bully, not a threat. Your ego’s so inflated you could pass for an oversized blowup doll -”

“Is that what you’re gonna do?!” he hollered, finally snapping. “You’re gonna stand here and insult me!?”

I pointedly looked down at myself, back up at him, and shrugged as if to say well, obviously.

“You think I’m playing around, girl?!”

“Sure looks like it, sweetheart.”

Show’s face scrunched up and he took a step towards me; his face was bright red, and a vein was bulging in his neck.

“You’re gonna regret this, Lawless.”

Show threw the mic to the ground and stormed out of the ring. Just as I turned to hop the barricade again, my music started playing. I’d won that confrontation. I threw up my peace sign as I watched Show back up the ramp, giving me a murderous stare before he turned around and disappeared backstage.

I jogged up the steps and tapped hands as I went, reveling in how awesome it felt to get the one-up on the bully in the ring as I took Shield’s usual exit through the crowd. As I came out of the stands and turned to make my way down the hall I nearly collided with Dean. He automatically reached out to steady me as I stumbled to a stop, and his hands lingered on my shoulders.

"Y'gotta take the corners slower, Finch," he told me as his boys came up on either side of him. "Almost take me out every show."

"Maybe if you didn't suddenly appear everywhere I go, we wouldn't have this problem," I countered. Dean poked his tongue against his cheek as he smirked down at me; Roman, to my surprise, nodded in agreement.

"She ain't wrong. You find her more than she finds trouble."

"It's 'cause I am trouble," he pointed out, trying to give me a dangerous look. I snorted and reached up to undo a buckle on his vest; he swatted my hand down. "D'you mind?"

"Not at all," I assured, undoing another one.

"What're you doing up in our spot?" Seth cut in, clearly not in a better mood than any other day. I let Dean fix his vest as I reached over and undid one of Seth's buckles.

"I knew it would piss you off and I couldn't wait to get you all grumpy again, Oreo."

"For the last time," he snapped, shoving my hand away and crossing his arms over his chest protectively. "Quit calling me that."

“Make me,” I started, reaching for his vest. Dean smacked Seth across his chest and caught my hand, angling himself between the two of us.

Seth scowled at Dean as I gave him a cheeky smile. He gave me an exasperated look.

"First y’start shit with Big Show an’ now you gotta get him all pissy?"

“I’m not - “ Seth started; Dean moved to hit him again and he shut up, ducking back behind Roman.

"To be fair, both of them started it," I defended; Dean's look didn't waiver.

"Y'need to be careful with Show, Finch. He don't play fair."

"I've handled the three of you -"

"We ain't vengeful. Well, not against you," Roman explained as Seth muttered speak for yourself. "Show is. And he ain't gonna come after you like you'd expect. He plays dirty and he's good at catching people off guard."

Admittedly, a tremor of worry shivered through me. Having Show coming after me? That wasn’t a good scenario any way I sliced it. I blinked up at the boys and asked meekly,

"How so?"

"Retaliation outta the ring," Dean warned as Roman added,

"You seen how he's rubbing his contract in Booker's face. He can do a lot without taking heat."

"Which means he could pull some dirty shit on ya an' get away with it, darlin'."

"Well, great," I sighed, running a hand through my hair and dropping my eyes to the ground. If Big Show came after me and I wasn't ready for him, he could do some serious damage.

Dean's fingers rested under my chin and tipped my head up until I met his gaze.

"We got your back, darlin'," he promised; Roman nodded as well. When Seth didn't answer or move, Dean elbowed him in the ribs.

"Ow! Yeah, okay? Shit, man, knock it off!"

"We're the only ones that get to mess with you," Roman told me, nudging Dean and smirking as Dean glared at him. My face split into a grin; so, Dean wasn't the only one with a soft spot for me, eh?

Before I could elaborate on what he'd said, though, their music hit. Seth unsurprisingly took off for their entrance immediately; Roman gave me a nod before following him out.

Dean lingered, of course, leaving us alone again. The butterflies would never go away, apparently. Not even when I was in love with Randy and trying my best to get over this stupid little crush.

He finally pulled his fingers off my chin as he backed towards where the other two had disappeared.

"Behave yourself, little Finch. We ain't always gonna be around to save the day."

"Whatever you say. I’ll find you again later, trouble."

Dean gave me a swift wink and disappeared into the crowd, leaving me and my stupid butterflies to grin like an idiot and hurry back to the locker rooms. I only had about fifteen minutes before my match, and I wanted to find Randy before I went out.

But of course, nothing ever went as I planned. I scampered past an open locker room and heard Brad say sweetly,

“Well thank you!”

For the love of… I groaned inwardly, backtracking instantly.

“You stick with me kid, and I’ll make your dreams come through. I’ll make you famous,” Paul Heyman said; I paused for a moment in the doorway, watching the two men shake hands. What the hell was going on?

“What part of banned from the arena are you not understanding?” I asked Brad sharply; he spun immediately and backed away from me, holding his hands out to keep me back.

“I work for Heyman now, you can’t kick me out!”

“Maybe not, but I can still kick your ass,” I growled, moving after him. Heyman slipped between us and held a hand up to shoo me back.

“Ms. Lawless, if you lay a finger on my employee, I will be sure to have the most severe of repercussions taken out on you.”

Seriously? They were really gonna play this? As I looked between Heyman and Brad, calculating the risks, another idea came into my head.

“He’s really your employee?” Both men nodded. “And this would hold up to, let’s say, Vickie Guerrero?”

“Most certainly,” Heyman assured, crossing his arms smugly thinking he’d won. He’d just signed my freedom from Maddox. I just shrugged and backed to the door, pausing long enough to tell Heyman,

“He’s your problem now.”

The look of panic and regret on the walruses face warmed my soul.

Okay, now that Brad was handled, I needed to find Randy. T-minus ten minutes until I needed to be in the ring. Thankfully I didn’t need to look far; he was in his locker room watching the show. When I came inside, he glanced up and gave me an exasperated frown.

Oh, yeah.

“Look, Show totally started it. I was just defending myself and -”

“We’ll talk about all that later,” he dismissed, and then nodded to the screen. “Did you have anything to do with this?”

He turned up the volume and my head whipped around when I heard Rock’s music. He was standing on stage and pulling something out of his pocket. The camera zoomed in and focused on the ticket. The ticket! The grin on my face totally gave me away; Randy sighed and dropped his head into his hand.

“Jay, come on.”

“I’m just helping a friend out!”

“He’s your friend now?”

“Obviously someone didn’t watch Smackdown a few weeks ago,” I tsk’d, shaking my head. “And if you wanna get technical, I never gave him the ticket.”

“You think your technicalities will matter when Vickie figures out who helped him?”

“I’ll handle that if she ever pieces together the intricate puzzle I’ve weaved.” Randy snorted, clearly still un-amused with my meddling, so I added, “besides. I’ve got the Apex Predator to back me up.”

“I don’t think so,” he dismissed immediately. “You got yourself into this mess, I’m not pulling you out. You won’t learn anything if I always save your ass.”

“Jeeze, I was just kidding,” I muttered, giving him a look as I folded my arms over my chest. Randy gave an exaggerated roll of his eyes and got to his feet; I turned my irritated gaze to the TV instead.

“Jay, c’mon. Don’t get an attitude with me. You know I’m right.”

“I don’t have an attitude. It’s clear you’re not in a joking mood.”

“Not when you insist on constantly putting your career in jeopardy -”

I went to throw back a snarky answer when the lights went off on the TV. My whole body froze; Rock was still in the ring. Which could only mean…

The lights came back on just as Shield drove Rock into one of the ringposts. That was my cue. I had to go help my friend! As I spun to take off out of the locker room, Randy surged and wrapped his arms around me to hold me to his chest.

“Randy! Let me go! I need to -”

“You need to stay back here!” he barked, turning and shoving me further into the locker room and then reaching back to slam his locker room door. I moved towards it and he angled himself between me and the exit.

“Rock’s my friend! I can’t just let him -”

“You can and you will,” he cut in again, face darkening as he turned deadly serious. “You ever think things through before you do them?”

“If I don’t go out -”

“Then you won’t screw yourself over!” when I blanched, he continued angrily, “you run out there to help him and Vickie knows you’re with Rock. How long you think it’ll take her to connect the dots with the ticket?”

“Or I have an ongoing feud with the Shield and I’m not about to let them jump anyone in the ring.”

Randy laughed cynically and stepped aside, motioning for the door.

“You wanna take that chance right before Rumble, then be my guest Jay. Or you could keep yourself out of someone else’s fight for once and focus on your own up next.”

Oh... yeah. My match. I gave a forlorn look over my shoulder at the TV and saw my decision had been made for me. Shield were hopping out of the ring, where Rock was laying stunned after what I guessed had been a nasty triple powerbomb.

“See? You’d gone out there, you’d be lying right next to Rock. You have an allegiance to yourself first, and then everyone else,” Randy lectured. I gave him a sour look that he ignored. “You see how no one else went out there? It wasn’t their fight. Just because you call someone your friend doesn’t mean you need to sacrifice your health or your career for them.”

“That’s a little dramatic,” I argued, ignoring the truth behind his words. Randy gave me a look and crossed his arms.

“Is it? You go out there and get your ass kicked - maybe even legitimately injured - and not only do you screw yourself for your own match, but you show Vickie you’re the one that helped him out. So not only do you give up your spot pick, you could kiss Rumble goodbye completely. And if you’re out of Rumble, you really think you’ll get yourself to Wrestlemania?”

“I get it,” I told him quietly, eyes on my shoes. So I was an ‘fight first, think later’ kinda person. “I was being stupid. But you don’t need to talk to me like I’m a child. I’m not.”

“No, you’re not,” he agreed, tone softening as he came up to me. “You’re my girlfriend, and you’re still learning things here. So it’s up to me to make sure you don’t do something stupid before you know better.”

“You’re such a saint,” I said dryly, still giving him a sour look. He rolled his eyes again, then wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close for a kiss.

“I am,” he teased, making me snort as we pulled apart. “I’m gonna go to the hotel now, okay? We’ll talk about this tonight when you get there. For now, just focus on kicking Ziggler’s ass.”

“So what, you want me to win now? Beat you out?”

“Only if you think you can, Lawless,” he smirked, pulling the door open for me as I backed to the hall. Irritation aside, I gave him a smart look and threw back,

“Don’t worry. It won’t take me almost twelve minutes to show you who’s winning the Rumble, Orton.”

The look on his face helped soothe some of my irritation with him; kicking Dolphs’ ass would help alleviate the rest.

The crowd was on their feet for me, singing along with my music and throwing peace signs up as I danced down the ramp, tagging hands as I went. I hopped up the steps and paused on the apron, throwing up a peace sign to the crowd.

As I vaulted over the top rope into the ring, I turned my attention to the titantron. They were showing the recap of Randy’s match, and his time flashed on the screen. I had 11 minutes and 36 seconds to beat Dolph. I could do this.

Dolph and I squared up and circled each other as we waited for the bell. He smirked at me, then scoffed and glanced back at AJ and Big E, waving his hand dismissively in my direction. The second the bell rang, he snapped back to face me.

I planted my foot, spun, and hit him with a hard buzzsaw kick to the chest. He let out a shout and dropped hard onto his back. I fell across him and scooped a leg; the ref scrambled and started the count.

One… two…

Dolph kicked out. Damn it! I was so close! Dolph scrambled to his knees and tried to crawl toward his entourage to get out of the ring. I shot after him and reached under to scoop his leg. He fell backwards and I rolled him up onto his shoulders to start the count again.

One… two…

He kicked me off of him and somersaulted backwards to break the pin, falling against the far ropes and looked at me in shocked surprise. I steadied my stumble and smirked at him, beckoning him to me with my fingers.

We went back and forth like that for the better part of nine minutes. One of us barely got to our feet before the other tried to roll up for a pin. By the time we reached two minutes on the countdown, both of us were worn through.

I had to rally, and I had to rally now. We went on for much longer, we’d either run out of time or I’d be too exhausted to pull any of the moves I needed to. As Dolph rushed at me for a clothesline, I ducked him and ran for the opposite ropes. I turned, bounced off them for momentum, and then dropped low at Dolph, knocking his legs out and sending him flat on his face.

Fast as I could, I popped back up and then bounced off the ropes again. I ran at Dolph and threw myself forward into a handstand, planting my hands on either side of his head. I let myself fall back over his body, hooked my hands around his neck, and planted my feet between his legs. I stood up into the bridge of my reverse chin lock and pulled his neck back, arching his body painfully.

He let out a cry of pain and writhed underneath me, but with the added leverage of the bridging, he couldn’t break my hold. He couldn’t even crawl forward; when he tried, all I had to do was pull harder at his neck and he’d stop just so he could breathe. He was at my mercy, and he was gonna freakin’ tap.

I felt his arm rising up, ready to hit the mat. And then I saw commotion on the apron out of the corner of my eye. AJ had jumped up onto the apron and was trying to get in the ring. The ref immediately turned from us and went to head her off.

And of course, Dolph started tapping.

“Ref!” I shouted, trying to get his attention. He didn’t hear me, and apparently didn’t hear Dolph banging on the mat. With no warning I felt both of us being dragged back. I twisted my head to the side and saw Big E pulling Dolph by the arm towards the ropes. I tried to plant my feet to stop him, but Big E had the upper hand on this one.

Dolph wrapped his hand around the rope and AJ dropped off the apron. The ref turned, saw he was breaking the hold by the rope, and dropped next to us. The ref tapped my arm and shouted,

“He’s on the ropes! Let up! Let up!”

“No! He cheated!” I threw back; the ref grabbed my arm and pulled, but I held tighter.

“Let go!” when I shook my head, he started his count. “One! Two! Thr -”

I dropped myself out of the bridge and rolled onto my knees. This was such bullshit, I would have won! I shoved to my feet, furious, and got my next gameplan. Dolph was stumbling by the far ropes, trying to get his bearings.

Buzzsaw kick, drop him down, go for the pin. Good plan, Lawless.

I rushed forward, planted my foot, and Dolph dropped to his knees. AJ was standing right behind him, actually in the ring, grinning at me; I was gonna take her head off with this kick. My instincts slammed me to a halt and I stumbled forward around her, falling against the ropes. She ducked back to get on the apron now and blew a kiss at me as I reeled.

An arm wrapped around my neck from behind, and before I knew it I was being pulled backwards to the mat by Dolph; I couldn’t grab the ropes in time. He slammed me hard with the Zig Zag and knocked me out of it. I felt my leg being pulled up, but I couldn’t kick out in time.

One… two… three!

Dolph’s music hit. He jumped to his feet and rolled out of the ring to celebrate with his cronies as I covered my face with my hands, groaning in disbelief. Seriously?! I’d really lost?! I turned my head to the titantron; he’d got the pin with seventeen seconds left.

Fanfuckingtastic. I slowly sat up and draped my arms on my knees, glaring at Dolph as he danced up the ramp with AJ and Big E.

Next time I’d just flatten him and his conniving girlfriend.

-x-

“You did really good,” Bryan informed me as I shoved my ring attire into my duffle. I gave him a moody side-eye and he snorted. “What? You did.”

“Not good enough,” I argued back. Sure Dolph’s choice had been between spot number 1 and spot number 2, but maybe Vickie would’ve done it different for someone else. Who knows? I sure didn’t, because I hadn’t managed to get my win.

“Look,” Bryan said, coming up and turning me to face him. He ducked to catch my gaze and gave me his most mentor-y look. “You’re not gonna win them all. You had a great match, and you only lost because of the interference. That’s something to be proud of, even if you didn’t get the pin. I know you like to be hard on yourself with your losses, but this one doesn’t count.”

I huffed and looked to the side, trying to hold onto my bitter disappointment; so sue me, I liked to wallow, okay?

“Jay, I mean it. We can go over the match tomorrow and work on the things we find, but overall you did good. So quit pouting.”

“Yeah, yeah,” I muttered, slinging my duffle onto my shoulder and trudging after him towards the parking lot. I tried to let it all wash off of me but the bitter taste from the loss lingered in my mouth.

“You sure you don’t want to room with Brie and I?” he offered again, holding the door for me. I made a face.

“Not in the slightest. I heard about your recreational activities and I don’t want any part of that.”

“Oh it’s just a natural part of life. Quit being so closed-minded!”

“Quit being so gross,” I threw back, shoving him in the direction of the car; despite my determination to be grumpy, my big brother always managed to get a smile out of me. He bounced back to me and roped an arm around my neck, tucking me to his side and ruffling my hair as he dragged me after him.

“As your wrestling mentor, I take it upon myself to talk to you about the birds and the bees,” announced; I tried to scramble away as we reached the car. Brie, already inside, looked back as we scuffled.

“Don’t you dare!”

“You see, when a man and a woman love each other very much -”

“Bryan! No!” I pulled free and threw my duffle into the trunk before covering my ears in horror. He grabbed my wrists and tried to pull them off.

“The man takes his penis and slaps the woman in the -”

“Bryan!” Brie snapped; we both froze mid-struggle to look at her. “What the hell are you talking about?!”

“Busted,” I whispered to him as I said to Brie, “he was just giving me wrestling tips!”

“I hate you,” he hissed as I broke free and scampered around the car, leaving him to try and talk himself out of this one.

-x-

“I could get used to this,” Randy murmured, coming up behind me and resting his chin on my shoulder as his arms wrapped around my waist. I was nowhere near sexy, dressed in a pair of oversized pajama pants and an old WWF shirt I’d swiped from John, brushing my teeth half-asleep.

“What?” I mumbled around my toothbrush. “This hot mess?” to punctuate my point, a bit of toothpaste dripped onto my chin. I was just ravishing.

Randy just chuckled and came around to lean against the counter, grabbing a tissue to wipe my chin clean. He folded his arms over his chest as he watched me finish up. After I’d rinsed my mouth and stood back up, he scooted to sit directly in front of me and he pulled me up against him.

His lips found mine slowly, melding against me in a smooth, gentle rhythm as his hands came up under my shirt. His fingers skimmed up my sides, brushing over my bare breasts and then back down to my hips to pull me closer.

“This does it for you?” I asked, looking down at my ensemble. He laughed and shook his head.

“Not at all,” he admitted, then moved to toy with the hem of my shirt. “But I could make a few adjustments… unwrap my present, so to speak.”

“I’d just fall asleep,” I deflected with a roll of my eyes, pulling back but taking his hands to pull him after me. He shrugged.

“I’d make it work.”

I dropped his hands and shoved him back from me, feigning upset as I backed for the bed.

“Insensitive jerk.”

Randy wrapped his arms around my waist and fell onto the bed, pulling me with him and then rolling on top of me. His lips immediately attached to my neck and he started trailing down to my chest, pulling my shirt up as he went.

“I’ll show you just how sensitive I can be,” he growled against my skin; okay, admittedly he was turning me on. But I was more tired than horny and I’d already taken a shower…

“Oi,” I deflected, grabbing his shoulders and pushing him off me. “I meant it, I’m gonna fall asleep.”

“Jay,” he actually pouted, rolling onto his side of the bed and propping up on an elbow. “I’ll be quick.”

“No. Because then I have to get up and take a shower and then my hair will be damp and I’ll be cold -”

“Okay, okay,” he sighed, flopping onto his back. “But I’m coming after you tomorrow.”

I got to my feet and gave him a dangerous look over my shoulder as I trudged to the lightswitch.

“If you wake me up before eight, I will suplex you out the damn window.”

“I like it when you talk tough,” he teased; I snorted and rolled my eyes, switching off the overhead light. The only light on was the bedside lamp, casting Randy in a warm, inviting glow. He got himself under the covers and then patted the empty space beside him.

A smile curled over my lips and warmth settled in me again. As annoying as he was sometimes - like earlier especially - I really liked this guy. And after along, wild night of wrestling, nothing sounded nicer than curling up with my boyfriend and falling asleep in his arms.

I heard my phone buzz on the dresser, but didn’t go to answer it. Whoever had texted me could wait for the morning. Right now, all I wanted was Randy.

-x-

Dean

“You stayin’ up much longer?” Roman asked as he came out of the bathroom, tossing his clothes into his bag. Dean, laying across the couch with a beer in his hand and phone on his chest, shrugged and looked back at the TV.

“Not long.”

“Yeah? Well don’t stay up too late talking to you girl,” he warned lightly, nudging Dean’s foot on the arm of the couch as he made for his room. The suite that their ‘secret employer’ had set them up in was pretty fuckin’ nice. Big balcony, separate bedrooms, a fuckin’ flat screen... anything to keep the Shield on good terms.

Hell, he wasn’t complainin’.

“Night,” Dean called to his brother; Roman made a noise in response before the door shut. All that was left was the cheap action movie he’d turned on. He was pretty fuckin’ exhausted, but he had to stay up just a little longer.

Finch always texted him before we went to bed. At least, she had since they’d started textin’. Usually she started up earlier than this, an’ they actually gotta talk. Usually nothin’ big; how her day was, what she did, maybe a little trash talk if they had a show the next night… an’ she always had to ask about him. How he was doin’. Dean never wanted to talk about himself but she sure did.

It was kinda nice, havin’ someone care about him an’ how his day went. Usually, somethin’ would happen an’ he’d be lookin’ forward to tellin’ her about it all day. Tonight, he was ready for their trash talk.

It was weird she hadn’t come out to help Rock. He knew she’d been all buddy-buddy with him a few weeks ago, so where was she? Never missed a chance to interfere before; what had made tonight different?

He’d missed her, okay? Really looked forward to givin’ her hell in the ring like he got to every fuckin’ show. So he was all ready to give her shit for wimpin’ out on him, but her text still hadn’t come. He finished two beers an’ the cheap movie without a word from her.

So fuck it.

He picked up his phone an’ sent her a text first. No big deal, so why’d he always get so fuckin’ worked up over this shit? Textin’ her first, seein’ her in that dress, bein’ alone with her backstage… how’d she get him so he wasn’t even thinkin’ straight? Barely breathin’?

After a few minutes he looked at his sent messages, makin’ sure it’d gone through.

To: Finch
missed you in the ring. u wimpin out on me darlin?

Okay, he’d just put the phone down an’ do somethin’ else. He flicked through a few channels and then just shut the TV off. He needed some fresh air. Clear his head, calm his ass down an’ quit actin’ like some teenage girl already. Shit.

He took his phone an’ a fresh beer an’ went out on the balcony, taking a slow breath. He leaned on the railing and took a few sips of his beer before setting it aside. He stared up at the night sky and tried not to think about how her dress had been that exact shade of blue. How her smile - her laugh - had been the best part of his day, so bright she put the fuckin’ stars to shame.

He wouldn’t admit he couldn’t sleep without talkin’ to her. Wouldn’t admit how much it got to him, knowin’ she was probably with Orton, especially when it coulda been him with her. She’d kissed him. She’d wanted him.

Fuck.

It could’ve been him.