Love in a Time of War

I rounded the corner, passing the entrance to the arena which I was sure I'd passed a million times already. I'd been wondering around for nearly an hour now and I was well and truly lost. It was my first day and I was already of to a terrible start.
I leant against a nearby wall sinking to the cold floor beneath me burying my head in my hands as tears burned my eyes. I thought about running, running out of the arena doors, running home, back to James, away from my dream. Maybe James was right maybe I wasn't cut out for the big time, for the great stage of the WWE. I thought about all the reasons I had to do this, to live, to have my dream , to make my dad proud and most importantly to stay away from James.
"You okay love?" A rough male voice interrupted my thoughts, I looked up silent tears smudging my makeup and cascading down my cheeks.
"What's got down Hun?" He asked reaching a hand out to help me to my feet "...I'm Roman by the way" He added
"Sorry, it's my first day and I'm well and truly lost." I sighed sadly
"Ah, yeah these arenas can be quite daunting especially when you're new here, believe me I've been here a while and I still manage to get lost. Where you heading?" He chuckled
"I'm trying to find Steph's office." I smiled weakly.
"Okay this way." Roman laughed leading the way.
"Oh thank you" I said following behind him.

After a few minutes we arrived in front of a door that had the words 'authority' on it.
"You've arrived at your destination" He smiled lightly knocking on the door.
"Ah Skyler nice to see you finally, and you Roman" Steph grinned slightly confused.
" I'll see you later Hun" Roman said before turning and heading back the way we came.
I followed Steph into her office.
"Take a seat Sky..."She gestured to a pair of chairs in front of her desk.
"... First of all I'm really glad you're here, I should hope your flight wasn't to troubled, you see sky love I've been working and fighting so hard over the last few months to get you on board with us, so much so I sent a recruiter to London just to find you, I saw a few things online almost a year ago, a fan sent it to me and I knew then at whatever cost I had to get you here with us on our roster before someone else big picked you up so thank you for coming. Second of all I'm deeply saddened to here that you're injured currently when do you think you'll be able to be in ring action?" She asked
"Probably a week tops" I smiled weakly.
"Well what we're going to do with you is we are gonna add you as the fourth member of one of our greatest fractions in recent years 'The Shield'." She laughed excitedly.
"Ok and who are the shield" I questioned. I hadn't followed WWE in the last few years James wouldn't allow it, he hated wrestling and hated the fact that I loved and did it.
" Well you've already met Roman, he's the muscle, the big guy. Then you have Dean Ambrose he's the unpredictable crazy one you never know what he might do. Then you have Seth Rollins he's the athletic energetic high flying type" Steph beamed.
"  Okay, when do I meet the rest of the guys" I questioned as if on cue there was a knock on the door.
"Right now" She smiled as two men stepped through the door, one had a scruffy look about him, untamed messy brown hair and vibrant blue eyes he took the seat beside me.
"Hello sweetheart, I'm Dean" He smiled extending his hand out to me to shake, I gingerly shook it.
" Steph, why have you asked us here." The one I now knew was Seth asked.
"Well I wanted you to meet Skyler, she's our newest diva and the fourth member of the shield." Steph grinned
"Um Steph, no offence to you Hun, why do we need her" Seth asked stepping forward and looking between Steph and I.
"Well you guys haven't exactly been sitting well with the male viewership and we thought maybe Sky might spice things up a bit" Steph smiled
"Hang on one minute, you're using the poor girl as an object to entertain a bunch of pubescent young males that only care about boobs" Dean interjected from beside me he seemed a little pissed off about the whole situation. I was a little too but I wasn't about to give up my only opportunity at my dream.
"I know that's what it seems like right now, but eventually we're gonna give her a chance to shine on her own, but right now this is how it has to be, I'm sorry" Steph stated. I knew that this hadn't come from her, it had come from higher up, probably her father, was this the sacrifice she had to make to get me on the main roster straight away.
"But aren't you constantly going on about empowering our divas and how gone are the days of boobs and panties being the female side of our business." Seth spat clearly annoyed by this too.
" I know, but I'm not gonna discuss this anymore and I've got a meeting so if you guys can show yourselves out. Oh and Skyler Hun  you're needed down in wardrobe." Steph said gesturing for the door.

"We can't just let her be taken advantage of like that." Seth stated as he angrily paced the hallway outside Steph's office.
"Well how do you feel about it love?" Dean turned to me and asked.
"Of course I'm not the happiest about it, but just to be here is a dream come true and I'd be an idiot to just throw away" I sighed sadly.
"Well the least we can do is try and keep the girl out of harms way, there's a lot of dicks out there." Seth smiled weakly.
"Thanks." I mumbled avoiding his glare.
"Anyway I've got bigger fish to fry I'll see you guys later" Dean smirked before heading off in the opposite direction.

"Ah Seth, I see you've met the new girl" Roman laughed as he walked towards us.
"Yes turns out Skyler here the fourth member of the shield" Seth stated rolling his eyes. Roman exchanged a confused look between us.
"Don't ask" I sighed beginning to feel awkward under both of there glares.
"Anyway I was about to show Skyler to wardrobe" Seth said angrily. I wasn't sure whether it was me that had pissed him off or Steph but I didn't know him well enough to question it.
"I was just heading that way to talk to creative if you want me to show her?" Roman smiled breaking the awkward silence that had fallen on us.
" Okay I wanted to get a workout in before tonight's show anyway" Seth mumbled before heading down the hall.

"Don't worry about Seth, he's a bit of a lone wolf, he takes a while to warm up to new people, it took him months to like Dean and I" Roman reassured.
"Thanks I guess..." I mumbled awkwardly ".... So Roman how did you get into this?" I asked trying to break the awkward tension that had fallen upon us once again.
"It's kinda in my blood, my whole family wrestles or have in the past, my dad, my brother, uncles, cousins, my cousins are the tag team the Usos you'll probably meet them at some point. I didn't always have my eyes set on this though, I was really good at American football but I found myself at a crossroads and the road I choose eventually brought me here..." He grinned clearly proud of his background "... What about you Sky?" He questioned
" Well my dad raised me on his own from when I was 6 and he worked a lot, he was always a big wrestling fan so he used to have it on the tv all the time, I found myself really interested by it but I never thought I'd ever be able to do it, it always seemed like the odds were stacked against me, that was until 5 years ago I found out there was a wrestling school near were I lived, so I went and had a go, turns out I was pretty good at it. Eventually a few months back I was asked to appear at this event in London, that's were the WWE recruiter spotted me, and the rest is well history" I smiled.
I chose to leave out all the negative side off my life, like James it's not exactly something you tell someone when you first meet them.
" Oh amazing well I know you're gonna take this place by storm, anyway once again you've arrived at your destination" Roman laughed.
"Thanks again for everything" I sighed.
"It's my pleasure." He beamed before carrying down the hall.

I knocked gently on the door.
"Enter" a shrill female voice called from inside.
I quietly opened the door finding an old woman probably in her 60s scribbling in a drawing pad.
"And what brings you to disturb me" She asked not looking up from her pad.
"Um... I'm Skyler... Skyler Rose, Steph told me to come see you about my attire?" I questioned.
"Over there." She said pointing at a pile of clothes on a chair in the corner, still not looking at me.
I picked up the clothes a small black crop top and a skimpy pair of booty shorts.
"Ur mam, I can't wear these." I said sadly holding up the pair of shorts, I wasn't anywhere near ready to show the world or my team mates my scars.
"You will wear them, you don't have a choice little miss" She growled finally shooting a glare my way.
"Please I can't!" I begged taking in a sharp deep breath as tears filled my eyes.
"Fine try these." She grumbled throwing me a pair of black ripped leggings and turning her attention back to her pad.
I slipped behind the curtain and changed into the clothes she'd given me, picking a pair of pumps and a few accessories out myself before walking out from behind the curtain.
"Fine, you can leave now." She sighed not even looking at me.
"Thank you" I muttered sarcastically before leaving.
I let out a shaky sigh as I felt the tears I'd been holding in cascading down my cheeks.
"Nice threads newbie." A familiar voice called I looked up to see Dean walking towards me, I quickly wiped at my tear filled eyes.
"You okay Sky?" Dean asked concerned as he stopped in front of me.
"Yeah just first day nerves, and blimey she's a bitch" I said wiping at my eyes again before gesturing at the door to wardrobe behind me.
"Don't let Jean scare you, she may act like a lion but she's a pussycat really, her barks worse than her bite, she just thinks she better than everyone because she used to be some top designer in New York in the 80s, but lost everything in some finance scandal or something." Dean reassured nudging my shoulder with his arm as he leant on the wall beside me.
"Thanks" I smiled weakly wiping at my tears once more.
"Look, I was just on my way to catering would you like to join me?" He asked
" Oh but my dad always told me not to go off with strange men." I joked
"Come on." Dean laughed nudging my shoulder again.
"Okay fine." I sighed

We walked in silence, but it wasn't awkward like it was with Seth and Roman, I just felt so at ease of with Dean.
"So what was really upsetting you earlier?" Dean questioned breaking the silence.
"What." I replied confused.
"It was pretty obvious you were lying." He mumbled
"Fine you got me...' I sighed '... I'm just doubting myself, I don't feel like I deserve to be here. Like I'm playing with the big guns, the wrestling royalty and I'm just a peasant a little kid way out of my league." I said sadly as a fresh few tears rolled down my cheeks.
"Look Sky love, I know you may feel like that now, but I'm sure you gonna do amazing here and I know Steph has a lot of faith in you so you must be great. I mean they've been hinting at you coming here for weeks. I know the crowd will adore you, and even though we've not long met but I'm really excited to work with you and have you as my right hand girl." Dean smiled as he gently placed his arms around my shoulders. I leant into his side accepting his comfort. I hadn't felt this comfortable around someone in a very long time. I could tell me and Dean were gonna become great friends over the next few weeks and months.