#tna wrestling female oc

[thafutureness]

IT'S IN THE RING!!!!

Inspiration from @aritamargarita. Putting my wrestling stories up here & living out my imagination. a few stories coming on the way.

[smolwritingchick]

Forced To Believe Chapter 2- My WWE Debut

Author's Note: Here we have some more filler before going straight to the main roster. When I wrote this I focused more on what happens onscreen instead of offscreen but as the story progresses I started adding more on what happens with Melanie 

The Jake Roberts OC is from an old fanfic friend of mine back on fanfiction.net's site, magmon1000. I decided to keep it in!

Chapter Summary: Melanie continues her wrestling career in TNA and FCW before finally getting called up to debut on the main roster at Survivor Series 2012 as Morgan Lopez. She has some words to say about The Shield which begins to make her a target of the group

Words: 9,000+

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"There are some crazy-looking guys here. Especially with a lot of tattoos and gothic clothing." Leah, Melanie's friend from the gym said as she walked into her locker room after the CZW show was over

Melanie had met her when she was training to become a wrestler. Leah had helped her work out, thanks to her high school wrestling coach and they have been friends ever since.

Melanie removed her ponytail and laughed. "You'll get used to it. I did after a month. Jon broke me out of my shell and now I can't get enough of everyone. We're always hanging out."

"Yeah, and you and I are having a night out. Just the two of us. We gotta talk."

"Something up?" she asked with concern. She wore a black tank top, leather pants, a leather jacket, and black boots, already ready to hang out with Leah.

"It's my boyfriend. I think he's cheating on me..." Leah looked down.

"What? No way. Come on, let's go to the bar."

Melanie drove Leah to a local bar in South Philly, downtown, and sat at the counter. "What can I get you ladies?" A female bartender asked

"I'll take a Heineken," Melanie replied as she immediately received one

"Give me the strongest drink you have," Leah replied sadly.

"Whoa! No. Don't listen to her. Give her a Heineken just like me please." Melanie declared. After the bartender gave Leah the same drink, she walked away to attend to another customer. "What the hell is the problem? Breathe. Don't do anything reckless, right now."

Leah bursted out in tears and Melanie sighed. Leah would get really emotional when it came to relationships and overthinking. "We were doing so good..."

"And you still are. Leah, get it together. He's not cheating. You gotta remember that his work hours are hectic. And remember that he always comes home to you right after he's done work and spends as much time as he can with you."

Leah nodded and wiped her tears. "You're right."

"You have a good man, Leah. I know it."

"Heh, you are like my own Doctor Phil."

"Hardy har har. I'm not a man and don't have a mustache."

"All right, let's drink!" Leah took a big gulp of her drink as Melanie laughed.

After a while of drinking, the girls start to feel a little tipsy. But Melanie was still able to do her own thing. Leah on the other hand just kept laughing.

"Hey look, it's Jon." Leah pointed out. Melanie saw Jon hanging out with Sam Johnston (Sami Callihan) and they were goofing around. The girls get off the counter and walk around the bar a little.

"I'll see him in a bit," Melanie nodded.

Leah sobered up after a while and prepared to leave, "I'm gonna go. Got to go to the gym tomorrow."

"All right." Melanie smiled and gave her a big hug goodbye.

"Bye, Mel Mel. Thanks for the advice. I can't wait to see my boyfriend when he comes home now." Leah waved and left the bar.

When Melanie turned around, she got her waist grabbed by someone. Turning her head back, she saw Jon grinning down at her.

"I thought you said you weren't coming to the bar." he chuckled and released her as she laughed and turned to face him. He definitely was a little intoxicated

"Girl talk."

"You and your girl talk."

"It's what chicks do for your information." she pushed him slightly as he had his hands up in defense.

"All right bombshell, do what you want. I don't want to get hit with that finisher of yours."

"Damn right."

Sami walked over to the two. "Hey, Mel."

"Sup?" she gives him a grin.

Suddenly Jon grabbed Melanie by the waist from behind and licked the side of her face slowly as she quickly closed her eyes

"Your face is tasty," he said drunkly.

"Oh my gosh! Ew!" she exclaimed, getting released by him as she wiped the side of her face. "What is wrong with you?" She laughed.

"He's been licking a lot of people lately. You'll get used to it." Sam replied, amused.

"I just hope that's the only thing he's doing with that tongue of his," she mentioned

"Wanna take shots?"

Melanie nodded. "Why not."

After 4 rounds of drinking, Melanie was wasted. Jon grabbed her by the waist to help her up. He had eaten and sobered up and watched them take shots. And seeing she was at her limit, it was time for her to go home.

"Yeah, it's time to go home. I'm gonna take her to my apartment. She won't be able to drive." Jon brought up as he said goodbye to Sam. He got a hold of Melanie's car keys and helped her out of the bar.

"I'm not drunk, I can drive. Whoa!" Melanie slurred as she fell down but Jon caught her and picked her up bridal style.

"Yeah, you're drunk all right."

He drove to his apartment with Melanie continuously laughing in the backseat. "Pickles are so yummy...so are Cheese Its. Cookies and cream! I want some cookies and cream." she slurred as he let out another laugh.

It was quite funny how she mumbled random things. This was the start of how their random word conversations would start from time to time.

Once he arrived at his apartment, he helped her inside. He knew it would take time for her to sober up, so he decided to just give her some water and let her lay on his bed. Once she got settled, he went to the living room and started to watch some TV.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

During a Pro Wrestling Talk Show, Melanie was dragged by Sami and Jon to watch Drake Younger talk and answer questions. She was highly annoyed with Moxley who began making smart-ass comments.

"Would you cut it out!?" She hissed and kicked his leg while Drake started talking about his time in Amsterdam and who he hung out with.

As Sami and Moxley continued shouting smart remarks, Drake had enough.

"If you got a problem, you can come down here. You can come down here and say something if you got a problem." Drake spoke and stood up to try to find out who was talking.

"You're a worthless champion, Drake!" Sami shouted.

"Paper champion," Moxley commented.

"Step out in front of the light," Drake shouted back as the host tried to convince Drake to not do anything reckless. As soon as they did, Drake looked surprised. "OH~ Sami! You wanna do this here? You wanna do this here?" he got provoked while Jon and Melanie walked onto the stage.

"God I am so embarrassed..." Melanie mumbled as Jon and Sami stood behind the desk. The host got out of the way, while Melanie stood in between Drake and the Switchblade Conspiracy. "Drake, I am so sorry for their actions."

"Oh no, don't apologize for them, Melanie. Don't apologize." Drake gently moved her out of his way.

"Aye! Get your hands off of her." Moxley pointed while Melanie sighed at his possessiveness.

"We are taking over this show!" Sami stated. "Sit down and answer our questions!"

Moxley answered the phone. "Hello? Okay, I'll ask him right now." He put his feet on the desk. "Drake, the people wanna know why you aren't cool anymore? Man, you used to be so cool. You used to be like one of the guys. I remember the first time I ever met you." he starts talking about the good times he had with him. "Now you're just a big star!"

"The CZW champion," Sami added

"You are the World Heavyweight Champion, and you think that you're too good for me and Sami now. But you're not. You're still just like us Drake. I taught you the figure four, you wouldn't even know that if it wasn't for me, and I still do it better than you."

"Can we not do this, here?!" Melanie shouted as Drake traded words with Sami and Moxley.

"Don't look at my eyes, Drake! I'm like Medusa! Don't look at my eyes, Drake!" Sami yelled.

"Out of respect for this show, I'm not gonna do this here. But I swear when you guys step through my house, I will slice you, from ear to ear, chico." Drake threatened them and left while Jon and Sami continued shouting at him.

"Answer this Drake! You got me booked in Germany for a hardcore match! You know I don't do that shit! Answer that Drake!" Sami screamed.

Melanie glared at her teammates while Jon shot her an innocent look. "What?"

"Don't 'what' me! This is fucked up. You dun fucked it up! And you guys decided not to unfuck it! What the hell was that?" Melanie snapped

"Chill MelBelle. This is our show now." Sami looked at the camera. "Hello, viewers. Welcome to our show now. Welcome to our show! We call this the Switchblade hour power and we will do whatever we want. Whenever!"

Jon answered the phone again. "Hello? Uh, I think he left the studio. Hold on wait can we get Drake back in?" He looked at Sami and Melanie.

"You're joking right?" Melanie scoffed

"Let me talk to him." Sami grabbed the phone.

"Drake!? Drake!? I'll be back. Let's go Mel." Jon grabbed her hand.

She swiftly took her hand back. "Whoa whoa, why do I have to go­-hey Put me down! Jon!" She proceeded to get lifted up and put over Moxley's shoulder.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Time Skip'

It was 2011 and Melanie had just got off the phone with Dixie Carter. She explained to her that she had caught her interest and would love for her to be a part of TNA, so she happily accepted. Melanie was in shock. It may not have been a wrestling company like WWE but TNA is still up there. She had her last match with Jon and he won from the Moxicity. After a bunch of tears and a farewell speech for the CZW crowd, she enjoyed the last night with the CZW crew with a goodbye party. 

"You're moving on up, girl." Chrissy wiped her tears.

"Ugh, no tears! You're gonna make me cry, again!" Melanie embraced her.

After saying goodbye to some other friends, Jon and Mel decide to go take a walk together, outside.

"Can't believe you're leaving."

"Hey, we'll keep in touch. I never forget those who have helped me over the years. Large or small."

Jon smiled, but he had to admit, he felt saddened that she was leaving him. "Here." He takes off his chain. "I want you to have it."

"Your chain?" She grinned and received it. "Really?"

"I want to see you with it on when you're TNA."

"Your wish is my command." She put it on. "I hope we get to wrestle in the WWE together. You're gonna make it. Trust me. We both will,"

"Thanks, Mel. You too."

"It's almost time for me to go. I hate goodbyes. Especially when you get to leave your family like this. Thank you, Jon. Seriously. These past few years with you have been super awesome. Next stop is WWE for us both."

"Hell yeah." He wrapped her arms around her, hugging her tightly. He really did not want to let her go, but he knew how much she wanted to wrestle in WWE, and TNA would be the first step.

As she started walking away, she stopped and turned back around. "This is gonna be super selfish of me, but­..."

She stood on her tippy toes, wrapping her arms around his neck, pressing her warm lips against his cool ones, softly. Jon widened his eyes in surprise. He wasn't expecting that, but he was not complaining as he kissed her back, tilting his head to the side. He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her in closer. It felt really good to kiss the girl he's been crushing on for the past few years.

As she pulled back, he already started to miss her warmth. She smiled at him. "I'll see you soon."

"Definitely." He smirked softly

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Against All Odds'

In TNA, during Madison's match against Mickie James, Melanie ran down the ramp and tossed Madison some brass knuckles.

"Who the hell is that?!" Taz looked on from commentary

"I don't know but she seems to be buddies with Madison!" Mike Tenay yelled.

Madison hit Mickie in the face with the brass knuckles and stole the victory. Melanie celebrated with Madison as Tara recovered from getting hit by Mickie with Madison's glove.

"Finish her!" Madison ordered and Melanie connected with a hard sidekick to the face to Mickie.

In the next few weeks, Melanie had been introduced by Madison, claiming to be her new bodyguard. Week after week she would attack all of Madison's opponents for her, but then things got rocky. There was one time when she actually failed to attack Mickie and caused Madison the match. She was not happy.

"You are such a distraction! You keep making me lose every single match! You don't do your job right at all! You are worthless!" Madison exclaimed and pushed her after each sentence. Melanie had enough and kicked her in the stomach, laying her out with a kick-out DDT.

"I'm sorry, who is worthless?" Melanie mocked before getting out of the ring.

For the next few weeks, Melanie would interfere in Madison's matches.

"What are you doing here!?" She exclaimed as Melanie walked down to the ring with a smile. 

Madison was having a match with Velvet Sky and was about to win once she hit the Rayne Drop on her but turned her attention to Melanie. Melanie was wearing a similar attire to Madison's Queen Bee gimmick but it was black. Velvet then managed to roll her up for a pin to win as Melanie laughed. Madison started to freak out as Velvet gets out of the ring.

But then the next week, Madison decided to turn the tables. While Melanie was facing Tara, Madison's music cued up and Melanie turned her attention to the stage. Madison walked up with a grin and did her trademark princess wave to add insult to injury.

Melanie glared at her but then turned around to get clotheslined by Tara. Madison looked on in delight but then Jake Roberts walked down the ring.

"Uh oh, Madison better run while she can. Melanie's friend, Jake Roberts isn't going to stand and let her distract Melanie." Mike said. As Madison taunted the crowd, she turned around and ended up shrieking and ran around the ring, away from Jake.

"Who do you think you are sneaking up on me like that!? Go away! This isn't any of your business!" She exclaimed. Meanwhile, in the ring, Melanie and Tara wrestled back and forth but then Melanie gave her a kick in the face as she dropped to the mat.

"Get the heck out of here!" Melanie yelled at Madison. She walked to the ropes and looked her at ringside, in front of her. The ref had his attention on Jake, trying to make him go back to the locker room.

Madison took this advantage and grabbed Melanie by the ankles to slide her out of the ring and started unloading on her with punches.

"Madison is a hell cat," Taz exclaimed

"You think you can beat me, Melanie!? Huh!?" She screamed. As the ref tried to get Jake to leave, Jake walked around the ring and grabbed Madison off of her as the crowd cheered. He picked her up over his shoulders as Madison started freaking out from being up in the air so high since he was so tall.

"Oh no he got Madison!" Taz laughed.

"Good!" Mike chuckled.

Melanie recovered and looked at Jake. "Thank you! Don't let her leave, I'm not done with her yet." she got in the ring as Tara recovered from her kick. They wrestled some more as Jake held Madison. She tried kicking and screaming at him but he wouldn't budge.

"Let me go!" Madison screeched. Boy did she have an unpleasant screech. Melanie managed to hit Tara with her finisher called the backfire which was her trademark kick-out DDT and pinned her for the win,

After Melanie won, she motioned Jake to put Madison in the ring. After he did, she speared her and started unloading on her until Madison escaped and ran away.

"Looks like Madison's plan backfired," Mike said.

Then the next week, during Madison's match against Mickie James, The rhythm from Madison's 'Killa queen' theme comes on which caught everyone's attention, but the lyrics were different and said, 'Let's Kill The Queen' instead of 'She's a Killa Queen'

Melanie had come out with a proud smile on her face as Madison's jaw dropped in shock.

"How dare you use my music!?" She yelled. "You are going to kill me!? How dare you!"

"Kill the queen? I think Melanie is on a mission to take Madison down and take her title." Taz said on commentary.

After Mickie got the win from the distraction, Melanie got in the ring and waited for Madison to get up. When Madison turned around, she got hit with the backfire as Melanie grabbed her Knockouts championship and raised it up in the air to loud cheers from the crowd. And then dropped it on Madison's knocked-out body, staring at her with a smirk.

As the two kept bickering with mind games, they finally battled it out and Melanie won the Knockouts title from her. She held it for a couple more months before dropping it to Velvet Sky. After dropping the title, weeks later she started to become AJ Styles' biggest fan, admiring his wrestling and wanting to hang with him more.

'Backstage'

AJ was walking backstage and Melanie ran over to stop him. "Hi AJ!" She grinned.

"Hey, Melanie." AJ greeted, slightly confused.

"I just wanted to wish you luck on your match. You are just so awesome in the ring. I really admire you." She smiled brightly.

AJ chuckled, flattered at her words. "Thanks."

Then a week later, she watched AJ's match at ringside.

"What are you doing here?" AJ exclaimed

"Cheering you on!" She replied like it was the most obvious thing ever

Then after that, AJ decided to let her watch his matches. Then over the next few months, they became good friends and great tag partners as they took down whatever opponents were in their way. But that all came crashing down on the Thursday after Against All Odds in 2012. AJ was up against Robbie E for the Television Champion.

"Come on AJ!" She cheered on. But then, Daniels and Kazarian walked down the ramp. "AJ!" She got on the apron.

AJ looked confused while he was on the other apron, looking at Melanie as she tried to motion him to turn around but it was too late. The ref called for the bell when AJ was attacked by Kazarian.

"Your winner by disqualification, AJ Styles." Christy Hemme announced as Melanie went to help him. But when she tried to, AJ got up and immediately pushed her away.

"What is your problem?" She exclaimed.

"If you hadn't distracted me, I could have taken them out!" He yelled at her.

"Are you serious? You are blaming this on me?"

"You keep distracting me!"

"I was only trying to help-"

"I don't want your help! You are always in the way! I don't want you around anymore! I'm tired of this!"

"You know what? Fine! Be that way! Don't come crying back to me when you need me to help you, got it?" She bumped her shoulder against his, walking past him to leave. 

He had no right to take his anger out on her like that. She knew he was going through a lot since Kazarian abandoned Styles during their match with Samoa Joe and Magnus to be with Christopher Daniels but he needed to get it together.

After that, Melanie was called up for FCW and she immediately asked for a release. She went straight to Florida, reuniting with Jon and meeting everyone else. She had a new character and the name was Morgan Lopez. And she vowed to make Morgan Lopez an amazing homegrown name in the WWE.

Spending time in FCW with Jon was fun as they continued to spend time together as best friends and were even put into a storyline together with his character Dean Ambrose obsessing over her

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'FCW'

Morgan is backstage with Summer Rae. "Hello, Morgan." Summer Rae grinned

"Hey Summer, what's up?" Morgan smiled

"So, what do you think about Dean Ambrose? You think he's cute?"

Morgan gave her a confused look and retorted, "You're joking, right? That guy is crazy and obsessive."

"Am I now?" She heard a raspy voice behind her as she widened her eyes. Summer quickly left the scene as Ambrose sniffed Morgan's hair and put some hair behind her left ear. "You know what I like about you? Everything. You can be so pure and innocent but also feisty and determined. It drives me crazy. I think I found my mate," he smirked and walked away while Morgan looked creeped out. 

In the ring, Morgan got distracted by Dean during her match against Raquel Diaz and got pinned by a roll-up pin to lose the match. "Are you freaking kidding me!? What is wrong with you?" She exclaimed as she recovered from the pin. Dean just looked amused as he stood on the apron, watching her.

"You think this is funny?" She retorted before giving him a stinging slap in the face as the crowd 'Ohed' in response.

Ambrose slowly turned his head toward her and grinned.

"She just slapped the crazed Dean Ambrose and I think he liked it," William Regal called on commentary, bewildered.

'Next week on FCW' Morgan bumped into Ambrose backstage and glared at him. "What do you want?" She spat

"You know Morgan...when you slapped me...I have never felt so alive," he admitted, reminiscing on the slap. She looked confused as he went on, "You know, I really think Morgan Ambrose has a nice ring to it, don't you think?"

She stared at him like he was crazy. Not him putting her name with his last name.

"What is wrong with you?" she shook her head

"You made me like this Morgan. I think about you every day, night, week, month, second, whatever. I just want you to acknowledge me."

"What­-you're­-you're insane!" she quickly got away from him once again

'Next Week'

Dean was lying down on a lounge chair, while James Bronson was sitting beside him. "Well, Dean...it seems that you have...an obsession with being the best in the world. And I admire that. And it also seems that you have an obsession with Mister William Regal. But I also see that you have an obsession with Morgan Lopez. Tell me your thoughts on Morgan," James said.

"Do you really have to ask? You already know. Everybody already knows. She...she completes me. Everything about her is...perfect. Her smooth skin...her beautiful smile...she's a doll. I know her better than she does. I know everything about her. She needs to understand that I'd do anything for her. Morgan belongs to me and if any man in this arena has a problem with it, I will lay them out. And the one man who Morgan seems to be around with often is..." Ambrose growled. "William Regal..."

"We're making progress here. This is good." James looked at his notes.

Later on, Morgan was backstage and couldn't help but watch Dean Ambrose cutting a promo at ringside.

"You know Morgan, I don't like to be ignored. I will find a way to get your attention. Even if it means getting your loved ones involved." Dean dropped the mic as she looked confused by his statement

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A few weeks later, backstage, a fight erupted between Bronson and Ambrose. He put Dean into a submission from behind, on the ground.

"Give up! I wanna hear you say it!" Bronson yelled. "You wanna give up!?"

All of a sudden, a few refs and FCW superstars rush to his aid and try to make Bronson break the hold.

"Stop it! What are you doing!?" Morgan yelled as she marched over to them.

"Give up you piece of shit!" Bronson yelled.

"Enough!" She yelled and Bronson let go of the hold. "That was not cool at all, who the hell do you think you are? He did nothing to you! What are you trying to prove?"

"Morgan, stay the hell out of my way. I don't have to listen to you since you're one of Maxine's assistants. Get out of here."

She glared at him while Bronson smiled smugly and walked away. She turned her attention to Ambrose. Although she didn't like him, she was hoping that he was okay. She decided to kneel down and help him.

"I got him." She stated and the refs and superstars left the scene.

'Later' Morgan was ordered to be the ref for Bronson's match and ended the match once he made his opponent tap. She scowled at him and decided not to raise his hand. When his opponent recovers, Bronson puts him in another submission hold. 

"Enough! Back off! You won the match already!" She yelled and tried to break the hold. A moment later Bronson broke it and stood up.

"What did I say about getting in my way, little girl? Stay out of my way!"

"Just leave already." She tried to step up to him. "You've won, just leave. Please."

"Leave? How about you make me. Make me Morgan! Make me leave! What are you going to do? Nothing! So shut your mouth!"

The crowd booed him but then Regal got in the ring and attacked him.

"Regal isn't going to stand for such disrespect. And now Regal is attacking Bronson and putting him in the Regal Stretch!" One of the commentators exclaimed as Morgan stepped away from the action. "And now Garret Dylan is out here." The commentator added as he attacked Regal.

Bronson and Garret gang up on him while Morgan tried to stop it. She does but then the two males turn their attention to her.

"Stop it!" She yelled but Bronson grabbed her by the hair. 

All of a sudden, Ambrose rushes into the ring and hits Garret with a lariat. Bronson threw Morgan to the mat while the impact made a loud noise which made the crowd 'Oh' in response. She held her head and crawled over to one of the bottom turnbuckles to lean on. Regal managed to put Garret in the Regal Stretch, while Ambrose put Bronson in the Regal Stretch too.

"Oh, it hurts right?! It hurts!?" Dean taunted Bronson.

"What is going on!?" The commentator exclaimed as Morgan looked on in shock. "Is this really happening!? The heck is going on?"

Ambrose and Regal look at each other and release their submissions. They stared at each other and Regal pointed at him and got out of the ring.

Morgan held her head and tried to recover and saw Dean, who was shirtless and in jeans, staring at her intently. She couldn't help but feel a little bit attracted to the crazy man. To his hair, his hairy chest, and the way he was watching her, it was clear that Ambrose really wanted her. After all the times he tried to get her attention, this one took the cake. He finally did something normal for a change and saved her from Bronson, with help from Regal. She tried to stand up but failed and Ambrose got out of the ring. He walked around the ring and decided to carry her bridal style as the crowd cheered.

Morgan reluctantly wrapped her arms around his neck but began to like the position she was in.

"Is Morgan smiling?" The commentator asked as she started to look happy while Ambrose carried her backstage.

'Next Week'

Morgan was in the mirror, primping, and caught Dean in the mirror, wearing a white shirt and jeans.

"I've been looking for you," she said and continued putting on her lip gloss. "You know, I keep replaying that incident in my head, of what happened last week. When you saved me, after all we've been through. I just want to know why. Why did you save me?" she turned around while he walked up to her.

He grabbed a piece of her brown hair and sniffed it. "Maybe it's because I couldn't take it if something bad happened to you. It was a reflex to save you. No one is going to hurt you, Morgan. No one." He declared and walked away.

Later on, Morgan watched his match against an FCW superstar at ringside and Dean hit the kickout DDT that she used, The backfire. Bored, Morgan began walking away as Dean looked surprised. "Morgan's leaving." A commentator says. "And look at the face of Ambrose. He isn't too happy about that."

Ambrose pinned his opponent for the win and didn't even wait for the ref to raise his hand. He instantly slid out of the ring and ran after her. "Morgan! Morgan! Where is she? Where is she!?" He screamed.

He started seething and ran his hands through his hair. He groaned loudly and held his heart. "She broke my heart. She broke my heart...how dare she do this? How dare she do this to me!? She took advantage of me and played with my feelings! I thought she was going to love my match and praise me but I guess I was wrong. I'm not good enough for her, aren't I? She believes I'm not good enough for her. She isn't going to get away. She is going to feel my wrath!" Dean continued. "I don't care how long I have to wait, I will make her acknowledge me! I will take my aching heart and tear it apart for her! I will even die for her! Does she not know that she completes me? Does she not know that I want her to look at me and praise me? I guess she doesn't seem to care. But don't worry..." He began to smirk. "She will. I will make sure she cares. She'll see real soon! I vow it!" He yelled at the camera and stormed off.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

During the next episode of FCW, Husky and another superstar start brawling in the ring with the ref out cold. Before this, they had a match but it quickly escalated into a brawl. "Enough! Enough, stop this!" Maxine, the FCW general manager, walked out with Morgan and William Regal. Morgan had continued to be Maxine's assistant when she wasn't doing matches on FCW. "I need some help, get some help! Now!" She saw officials and FCW Superstars running in the ring, trying to break it up. One of the superstars who ran was Dean Ambrose. "Go! Go!" She exclaimed.

Maxine decides to get on the apron when she sees the fight isn't getting separated.

"Maxine look out!" Morgan shouted but it was too late because she accidentally got bumped into Brad Maddox while she was trying to get in the ring. Maxine held her head and was down on the mat as Regal and Morgan came to her aid. "Are you okay?"

The fight went on outside as Ambrose, Maxine, Morgan, and Regal were left in the ring. Ambrose glanced at Regal and Morgan and then back at the fight while he was on the apron. He decided to attack Regal from behind.

"Dean!" Morgan yelled as Maxine crawled away from the fight. "What are you doing!?"

Ambrose started unloading on him. But then Regal gave him a hard punch in the face as Ambrose stumbled back and got out of the ring. Regal took off his jacket as Maxine and Morgan stood in the middle of the ring, between the two men who were at ringside. Maxine glanced at Ambrose and William and started to smile.

"What are you planning?" Morgan asked, knowing that smile Maxine was showing.

Maxine's FCW theme played out in the arena as Ambrose and Regal stared each other down while Morgan looked worried.

"Was this what Ambrose meant when he said he would go after one of Morgan's loved ones? Regal and Morgan have gotten close over the months of FCW." An FCW commentator says

"Please don't tell me you're going to make them have a match." She pleaded with Maxine.

"I got this handled," Maxine reassured her. Before Ambrose left to go backstage, Regal applauded him.

Afterward, Morgan rushed after Regal. "Regal, please don't tell me you are going to wrestle Dean. Maxine said she made the match. Don't do it. Please don't wrestle him. You did it once, you don't need to do it again."

Regal lifted up her chin and smiled at her. "This needs to be done, Morgan. This is going to be closure."

'Next Week' Norman Smiley, who has the FCW heavyweight championship in his hands, Maxine, and Morgan, who was still Maxine's assistant, were in the ring while Maxine talked about having an eight-man elimination tournament. "In this tournament, the participants will compete against each other, over the next couple weeks. And then the final four will compete in a fatal four-way match. And whoever wins will be the new FCW world heavyweight champion."

"Let's please bring out the participants," Maxine announced as they walked out one by one. "FCW 15 champion, Seth Rollins! Leo Kruger! Big E Langston! Leakee! Showtime Percy Watson! Damien Sandow! Dean Ambrose! And Husky Harris! Gentlemen as you know, you will be competing against each other over the next couple of weeks."

Morgan couldn't help be feel an intense gaze in her direction. 'Don't look. Don't look, Morgan. Do not look.' she tried to warn herself as she tried to continue listening to Maxine. But after a few moments, she decided to look as she locked eyes with Ambrose. 'Just my luck. Why would you look at him? Why?'

Ever since Dean attacked Regal, they have gone at it while Morgan got stuck in the middle. She is close to Regal and admires his ring work. But she doesn't want him to get hurt because Ambrose is a dangerous man. But there was a small part of her that was interested in the weird guy.

"But right now, Damien Sandow and Leakee, you will compete right now in a match. And Morgan here will be the special referee for the tournament matches for the next few weeks." Maxine declared, making Dean smirk and the crowd cheer. "The rest of you please leave the ring."

"Wait, what?" Morgan snapped her head to her. "I don't even have a shirt-"

"Taken care of," Maxine replied.

"Why me?"

"Why not? You are my assistant after all."

"But why can't a regular ref do it?"

"It's done, Morgan."

Morgan exhaled while everyone left the ring but her, Leakee, and Damien. She received a referee shirt and put it on while standing in the middle of the ring.

"Why me...?" She mumbled

During another episode of FCW, Summer and Morgan were backstage.

"You know you got a psychopath staring you down, hard, over there, right?" Summer asked, glancing at Ambrose, watching Morgan from afar.

"Don't push it..." Morgan mumbled. "This whole situation is just really weird..."

Audrey Marie walked over to them, making Morgan even more annoyed. She couldn't stand her. She was exceptionally aggravating and just wanted to smack the stupid grin off her face.

"Wow, I'm so glad I'm not you, Morgan. Because I'm the diva's champion! Yeah!" Audrey bragged and showed off the title.

Without thinking, Morgan slapped her in the face before storming off.

"Whoa!" Summer exclaimed and started to laugh while Audrey rubbed her cheek, still stunned at the assault.

"What was that for!?" Audrey yelled.

'Later'

Morgan walked backstage, trying to cool off but got stopped by Maxine.

"Why would you slap the diva's champion?" Maxine asked with an annoyed face expression

"She deserved it," the Philly wrestler shrugged

"Look, you can't just do that. You slapped the diva's champion, Morgan. You're supposed to be my assistant."

"I know that. It just happened...I'm sorry, okay?"

"Look I'm going to have to force action. You will not be in the number one contender diva battle royal tonight."

"What!? Maxine please­-"

"It's done. I'm sorry but this needs to be done-" Maxine trails off as she watched her storm off. She sighed and shook her head. "She never listens anymore..."

Later on the night, Morgan was sitting down on a chair backstage, burying her head in her hands, while the diva battle royal was going on. She was filled with mixed emotions. Anger, sadness, defeat. She had always dreamed of being the FCW Diva's champion, to prove that she should be here. But the dream was never going to happen because she decided to slap the diva's champion. From afar, Ambrose was watching her intently and walked over to her.

"Just go away, please." She mumbled but Dean sat next to her.

"You should release it," Dean responded.

"Release what?" She sat up to glance at him.

"All that frustration and anger. Show them that you should be in that battle royal." he goes on, making her more irate about the situation. She stood up and headed off to the ring. "Release it, Morgan! Release it!" He shouted.

Morgan didn't know why she went along with what he said, but she should prove to the FCW Universe and the divas that she was not a fragile diva and deserved to take a shot at the championship. As soon as she walked out, she saw AJ, Aksana, Raquel, and Naomi still wrestling in the ring while Audrey was at ringside, watching on.

"Wait a minute, why is Morgan out here? She's not in this match." Byron brought up on commentary.

"This is going to be very interesting," Regal spoke, fully intrigued at the situation.

"Oh!" Byron shouted as Morgan speared Audrey out of her chair and started unloading on her. "Morgan is going after Audrey!"

"This is what Morgan needed. She needs to show this side more often." Regal said while Morgan threw her face first to the ring post, making the crowd 'Oh!' at the impact. She slid into the ring and gave Aksana and Naomi a double clothesline and started unloading on AJ with punches.

"Hey! What the hell!?" Raquel shouted and grabbed her off of AJ but got shoved back

"Fuck off!" Morgan shouts and continued beating up AJ.

"I have never seen this side of Morgan before," Regal murmured.

"You and me both!" Byron said as Raquel grabbed Morgan off of AJ again and tried to punch her. Morgan blocked the punch and threw her into the ring post, hurting her arm. She slammed her down before throwing her, AJ, and Naomi out of the ring. Morgan turned her attention to Aksana and gave her the backfire while the crowd cheered. "Morgan just went on a meltdown!" He exclaimed while she exhaled and ran a hand through her hair.

"Indeed. Very interesting. And I think I know who triggered it." Regal said as she walked backstage

"Who the hell do you think you are!?" Maxine marched over to her. "Didn't I say not to get involved!?"

"And?" Morgan bluntly asked.

"And!? You just ruined the match! For the next few weeks, you will not be here until after the number one contender and Audrey have their match. Do you understand me!?"

"I don't care anymore. And I don't care about being your little assistant." she stepped up to her. "And if you ever yell at me again...you know what? I'll just let my actions speak for me."

"Excuse me? Do you know who you're talking to!?" Maxine shouted as Morgan left. "Unbelievable. What has gotten into this girl?"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Survivor Series 2012'

In 2012, heading backstage for Survivor Series, Melanie was called into Triple H's office for a meeting.

"You wanted to see me?" She sat down in front of his desk. He seemed to be in a good mood, so she had a feeling she was going to be getting good news.

"Yes, I did. I guess you're wondering why I called you here for Survivor Series."

"Very curious." She let out a chuckle.

"Consider yourself a WWE Diva, now. You've moved up from NXT." He casually announced with a big smile.

Melanie broke out in a short laugh. "Are­-are you serious?"

Paul smiled and nodded, shaking her hand. "Welcome to the main roster, Melanie. You've earned it."

"Thank you. Thank you so much for this opportunity. Oh my gosh. Wow. I can't believe it. Thank you!"

"Here's your script. You start tonight. Think you can handle it?"

"Oh yeah. I'm ready." She grinned and walked out of his office with a big smile on her face. 

She finally got the job she wanted. To be a WWE Diva. After all the hard training at CZW, TNA, FCW, and NXT, she finally showed everyone she was worthy of becoming a WWE Diva. She wanted to be different from the other divas and bring more life into the diva's matches instead of it being only 2 minutes. She wanted to do stuff with the guys too, to bring a little spice of the attitude era back just like Chyna and Lita did back in the day.

She told Triple H everything she wanted to do in the future of her wrestling career when she was in NXT and now it seems like he was granting her wish, having faith in for to pull it off in the PG era of WWE.

She examined the script. It looks like she was going to be with her best pal, Celeste (Kaitlyn), and then in a storyline with The Shield, which ironically was with Jon, Colby, and Joe. The four of them were together again after the FCW days. It was going to be delightful.

A couple hours before Survivor Series started, she walked down the hallway until she felt someone jumping on her back. "April! No piggyback rides!" Melanie laughs. April (AJ Lee) jumped off and hugged her tightly.

"You're here! I can't believe you finally made it to the main roster!"

"Word travels fast, huh?" Melanie beamed and saw Celeste walking over to them.

"Melanie!" She picked her up and twirled her around.

"Still as strong as ever!" The Philly diva hugged her back before getting set down.

"Congrats on finally joining us as divas. You are gonna be awesome as hell on the main roster, now. Fans are already anticipating your debut."

"I'm so excited. Seems like I'll be managing you tonight, too."

"Yep. I'll also be your guide around here. Let's go to the locker room." Celeste and April escort her to the Diva's Locker Room. "Girls! Melanie is finally on the roster!"

"About time! Girl, I've been waiting for you." Trinity (Naomi) beamed and hugged her.

"How you been girl?" Ariane (Cameron) asked, giving her a hug too.

"I'm still in a state of shock that I'm now on the main roster, so I may pass out, but I'm feeling great." The Philly diva gleefully responded.

Sarona (Tamina) walks into the locker room with Victoria (Alicia Fox). "Are you the new diva?"

"Yeah, I'm Melanie."

Sarona smiled. "Nice to meet you. Looking forward to wrestling with you."

"Me too! Cause we're having a match together, soon." Victoria reminded her. "Don't disappoint me. Give me all you got in the ring."

"You bet! Looking forward to it." Melanie nodded

"Hey, didn't you come here a couple years ago?" Layla asked.

"I try not to remember that. But yeah, I did back in 2010 for a job offer. But I left because they didn't want me to wrestle, they wanted me as a valet and that's it. So that's when I went to TNA."

"That's insane. You're crazy." Victoria pointed out. "I would have jumped on being a manager,"

"Everyone keeps telling me that." Melanie groaned

"At least you're here now," April hugged her tightly. 

'To The Ring'

After the ref raised Eve's hand, she heads straight back to beating on Kaitlyn which caused the crowd to boo. She had already won the match, retaining the Diva's Championship against her but was still trying to cause issues.

"Okay Eve, you've done enough!" Cole exclaimed as she started stomping down on her viciously.

"It looks like she wants to make a statement tonight! Let her prove she is not the one to be messed with," JBL spoke, supporting Eve's actions.

The arena began to cheer loudly once they saw Morgan running through the crowd, jumping over the barricade.

To be honest, Melanie was not expecting such a loud reception from the crowd when she wasn't even announced she'd be here tonight but it made her heart soar as she remained focused on going after Eve and making sure she did what she had to do during her first night on the main roster.

This was her debut. Attack and leave. Even showing shades of what Chyna did to Marlena. It was so exciting to her that she was finally going to make a name for herself on the main roster.

"Look at this!" King yelled in a high voice.

"Who the hell is that!?" JBL asked in confusion

"Look who it is!" King shouted as Morgan slid into the ring.

"Is that-it is! It's Morgan! Morgan Lopez from NXT!" Cole announced happily.

"What!? Morgan!? Did you know she'd be here!?" JBL exclaimed.

She jumps right on top of Eve, making her scream as she attacks her relentlessly. Eve desperately tries to push her away but to no avail.

"It looks like Miss Lopez has seen enough! Get her Morgan!" King cheered her on

"Get off of her! Where is security!? Attacking the diva's champion!? What is wrong with her!?" JBL yelled as Kaitlyn watched on with a smile on her face, moving away from the action to lean against a turnbuckle.

Eve managed to shove Morgan away and scramble her to her feet. She tried to clothesline her but missed as Morgan countered with a beautiful spinning heel kick to the face. The champion began to stagger and drop down to her knees. Finishing her off, Morgan ran to the ropes before running towards the champion, knocking her down with a shining wizard.

"And Morgan taking out Eve!" Cole looked on as the crowd cheered while Morgan went back to getting on top of her to attack.

Security guards were quick to rush down the ring to grab a hold of Morgan, keeping her away from Eve. The Philly Diva ended up laughing, proud of what she had done as she was escorted out of the ring by a bunch of security and referees

"Yeah, that's right! Take her out of here! Take her back to NXT!" JBL yelled

"I'm getting word that she is not in NXT anymore, guys. She's on the main roster now!" Cole announced

"You have got to be kidding me! Why!? She is a danger to Eve! Did you see what she did!? She attacked a helpless champion!"

"She was saving her friend, Kaitlyn!" King countered as Eve grabbed her title and jumped over the barricade, freaked out and upset her plan failed

"Security, let her go. She's with me," Kaitlyn announced on the mic as Morgan reluctantly got released and slid back in the ring.

As soon as she got up to her feet, the two girls smiled at each other and embraced tightly.

Kaitlyn then turned her attention to Eve who was in the crowd, processing what had happened, "Eve! Where you going? Your plan backfire? You see I have a little backup of my own. Meet Morgan Lopez. WWE's new Diva on the main roster. My best friend,"

The announcement made the crowd erupt into more cheers as Kaitlyn's theme came on. Morgan waved at Eve, proud of herself with a successful attack.

"Kaitlyn's not alone, tonight! Thank goodness for Morgan," Cole looked

On Morgan's Twitter, called WWEMorgan101, she tweets:

'Ahhh I'm so happy to finally be a part of the main roster of WWE! I promise to give it all I got! #MorganIsHere

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'Monday Night Raw'

The next day, backstage, Morgan walked around with Kaitlyn and began to speak her disapproval about The Shield, "Hey, did you see what The Shield did to Ryback, last night? Completely weak of them to jump him like that. I seriously would like them to be in a singles competition instead of it always being 3 on 1."

"You sure? Be careful, The Shield are pretty scary." Kaitlyn replied in a wary tone.

"Not to me." Morgan shrugged.

"Okay. I hope that comment doesn't bite you in the ass."

"What's the worst that can happen?"

'Smackdown'

Morgan is backstage as she watched The Shield's interview with Michael Cole as they talked about Justice for CM Punk and how The Shield works for each other and not Paul Heyman or anyone else. After the promo, the titantron showed her watching backstage in disapproval as the crowd cheered.

"Really...?" She scoffed.

"You okay?" Kaitlyn stood next to her

"Did you see their little interview? I have never seen people so full of it. They think they run the place because they beat everyone up. What kind of bull crap is this?"

"Don't you know how dangerous they are?"

Morgan shook her head. "They aren't so tough. I give them a month before they start getting their asses kicked." She turned her attention back to the TV, while Kaitlyn appeared worried about her friend talking trash about The Shield.

After the segment, the camera goes back to the commentators. "Oh man, I hope Morgan knows what she's saying," Cole said with worry in his voice.

"What she just did was absolutely stupid. She just dug herself a grave. Stay in a diva's lane. Don't get involved with dangerous men, like The Shield." JBL warned, annoyed with Morgan's choice of words.

"And on Twitter, Morgan even Tweeted, 'The Shield aren't so tough. Bunch of bullies. What else is new? #NonBeliever #IDon'tBelieveInTheShield'" Cole read her updated tweet.

"Oh my God...she dun did it now..." JBL groaned.

"She's picking a fight. She better watch her back." King sighed, wondering what was going to happen next.

"Yeah. On the WWE APP, we have a poll about Morgan and The Shield. Do you think The Shield will confront Morgan about what she has said about them? Vote now and we'll show the results on Monday Night Raw." Cole announced.

'Next Monday, on Raw'

Morgan tweets 'First match! So ready to go. #It'sMorganTime!'

In the ring, Morgan came out to spin the bottle with Kaitlyn following her from behind. The two walked out to a very warm reception from the crowd which made the Philly diva smile wider. For her entrance, she had her right hand up, open in the air with her index finger and thumb sticking up a little and twirled around. She put her hand down and began walking to the ring with determination and excitement on her face. It was her first televised match on the main roster. She wanted to make a big impression on everybody.

"This is a singles match scheduled for one fall! Introducing the challenger, from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Morgan Lopez!" Justin Roberts announced.

"Woo hoo, we get to see Morgan! And would you look at that beautiful grin? She's ready to go!" King called with excitement.

"This is Morgan's first match on Monday Night Raw and let's see how she does with Alicia Fox. Now, last week, Morgan may have said some words that she might regret. On Raw, she said 'What The Shield did to Ryback was weak.' and on Smackdown, she said 'The Shield are annoying and aren't so tough.' And on the WWE APP, we had a poll and the question was, Will The Shield confront Morgan about what she has said about them? A haunting 82 percent has said yes, while 18 percent said no." Cole informed.

"Yeah...I have a bad feeling about tonight. I hope Morgan watches her back." King murmured with worry.

"Do you really think Morgan can stand up to The Shield? They are a dangerous team." JBL retorted.

Morgan got in the ring and stood on the turnbuckle. She screamed 'Yeah!' as she raised her right hand up in the air again and the crowd got hyped. Alicia Fox glared at her while she got off the turnbuckle, unimpressed.

"You ready?" The ref asked Alicia. She nodded, keen to discourage Morgan and her dreams of staying long on the main roster. "You ready?"

"Yes," Morgan replied, nodding her head.

"Ring the bell!" The ref yelled

'Ding Ding Ding'

Morgan and Alicia circle around each other. "Here we go! Morgan's first match." Cole said. They lock up and Morgan starts kicking her multiple times before assaulting her with a spinning kick to the head as Alicia falls down on the mat, stunned.

"I think she learned a bit from Daniel Bryan." King joked as Morgan pins her, only to get a 2 count.

"You got this Morgan!" Kaitlyn cheered on.

Alicia gets up and kicks her hard in the midsection as Morgan clenches her stomach and stumbles to the turnbuckle. Alicia walks over and puts her foot on Morgan's neck, choking her for as long as she can. The ref tries to tell her to stop but then starts counting.

Alicia breaks the hold when the ref yells 4 as Morgan slides down the turnbuckle and coughs, rubbing her neck. Alicia taunts the crowd as the crowd starts to boo her. Getting up, the Philly diva waits for Alicia to turn around as she runs and spears her down.

"Wow! Look at that spear! We need a replay of that." King exclaimed

"Looks like Kaitlyn must have taught her a thing or two," Cole said as the girl cheered for Morgan and grinned. She picks Alicia up and gets her into the kick out DDT position. "And Morgan calls this move, the backfire. She got it!"

"Yes!" Kaitlyn yelled.

All of a sudden, the crowd cheers loudly and starts looking up to see The Shield, in the crowd, staring at Morgan from afar.

"What is going on­-oh my gosh, it's The Shield! The Shield is out here!" Cole yelled.

"I knew this was going to happen! I knew it!" JBL added.

Confused at the commotion, Morgan turns and looks around. After a couple seconds, she finally finds The Shield, slowly walking down the steps, through the crowd. Damn, they were that bothered by what she said? For real?

"Are you kidding me?" she mumbled to herself, failing to hide her surprised expression, widening her eyes a bit.

They picked the worst time to distract her. This was her first match and she didn't want to lose in her debut. Morgan's mind began to race as she tried her best to stay focused but as they got closer, the harder it became.

"Oh no!" King exclaimed as Kaitlyn started to panic. She began backing up to the ramp once The Shield reached the barricade.

"Morgan, Kaitlyn! Get outta there!" Cole shouted. "Get out of there, Morgan!"

"Ohhhh The Shield look upset," JBL warned

"Gosh...the look on Ambrose watching Morgan like prey is alarming. She needs to get out of the ring, right now!" King exclaimed.

Rollins and Reigns had some intimidating glares on their faces, aimed at the Philly diva as she tried her best to ignore them. But what had got to her was Ambrose's demeanor. He tilted his head to the side a little, having a sick smirk on his face. The predatory gaze sent shivers down Morgan's spine and it began to freeze her in shock. The way he was staring at her was different from his teammates and she didn't like it one bit.

While this was happening Alicia managed to recover from Morgan's finisher. Seeing that all her attention was on the three men, she took advantage and rolled her up from behind for a pin.

"1!"

"2!"

"3!"

"Here is your winner! Alicia Fox!" Justin announced as the crowd booed.

Morgan looks around in surprise. Did that just happen?

"No way! No friggin' way!" she shouted in protest.

That did NOT just happen. They did NOT just cost her the match like that over some tweets and words. The Shield smirked to themselves, satisfied with the results of the match as they watched her freak out.

"Oh, you think that's real friggin' funny, huh? Seriously? Seriously!?" Morgan screamed at them. She shook her head and stormed out of the ring with Kaitlyn quickly following her

"Morgan is not happy. I don't think she's going to live this down." King watched on.

"Is this the last we've seen of The Shield distracting Morgan? You think she got the message?" Cole asked.

"I hope so." JBL replied

Morgan tweets 'Stupid Shield interfered in my match. #WEAK!'

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'WWE Main event'

Morgan is in the ring with Kaitlyn at ringside, again, as Alicia Fox is getting in the ring.

"Morgan is here for her rematch against Alicia Fox after what happened with The Shield." Cole recapped.

"Yeah, The Shield cost Morgan her match. Her debut match. I just hope they don't do it, again." King mentioned with worry.

'Ding Ding Ding'

Alicia kicks Morgan in the midsection and slams her onto the mat. Morgan groans and holds her head before Alicia pins her for a 1 count. She continues to get the upper hand and then puts her in a headlock submission as Morgan struggles to get out of it. Kaitlyn begins banging on the mat and the crowd claps for Morgan, motivating her to get out of the submission and fight back. She starts to get the upper hand and clotheslines Alicia. Climbing up the top of the turnbuckle she waits for Alicia to get back on her feet.

"What is she doing here?" Cole questioned, anticipating her next move. Suddenly, Morgan jumps and hits a cross body on Alicia. "Oh!"

"Awesome!" Kaitlyn cheered as Morgan pinned Alicia for a two-count.

"That was impressive." King looked on while Alicia was still down, recovering. Morgan waits for her to get up. When she does, she goes to kick her but Alicia ducks and counters with a sickening kick to the face, making the Philly diva fall flat on her back. "Gosh...I think Alicia may have laid Morgan out."

Alicia pins Morgan, only to get a two-count.

"Really?" Alicia complained to the ref, getting annoyed that Morgan wouldn't stay down. They start to have a back-and-forth match but then Morgan kicks Alicia in the stomach and does the backfire and pins her to win the match.

"She did it!" King cheered as Kaitlyn ran inside to ring to hug her friend

"Here is your winner! Morgan Lopez!" Justin announced, but her celebration was cut short when The Shield was in the crowd again, putting the divas on edge. They stood on the steps, while Ambrose had a mic in his hands.

"Well well, Morgan finally wins her match. Congratulations, darling..." Dean rasped out. "You know why we came out on Monday? It's because you are an injustice. You left an opportunity in the WWE years ago and you think you can come back and try to change? How about you leave, just like you did before. You don't deserve to be here. And that is why The Shield will make sure to take care of you since we call you, the Morgan problem."

Morgan scowled at him. He had a lot of nerve. She didn't want to be a manager when she was offered a contract in WWE years ago. Now that she is here, she gets to be the wrestler she always dreamed of being. If they think that's an injustice, so be it. But it was also clear they seemed bothered by what she said and on social media.

"Morgan problem? Morgan problem?" she retorted as Kaitlyn held her back. "I'll show you a friggin' problem! You really messed with the wrong one!"

Dean looked amused at her yelling and left with his teammates.

"She brought this on herself, she should have kept her mouth shut." JBL criticized her actions.

"Yeah but the WWE Universe has been waiting for someone to really step up to The Shield. Do you think Morgan has what it takes?" King asked.

"Has what it takes? She's a Diva. A woman. What can a woman do to The Shield?"

"Looks like we'll have to find out," Cole said before the commercial break.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Favorite hashtag?

#MorganVsTheShield

#NonBeliever

#ItsMorganTime

#IDontBelieveInTheShield

#MorganIsHere

#WEAK

[wrestlersownmyheart]

Second Chances Ch. 1 (Book 1 In the "Chances" Series) *Samoa Joe X OC*

Pairing: Samoa Joe X Female OC Summary:

Ella Roberts has had a traumatic life.

She witnessed her parents' murders at the age of eighteen, and narrowly escaped death herself, due to the intervention of Joe Seanoa, a close family friend. After she discovers she was the true target the night her parents were killed, she assumes a new identity and runs away with intentions of protecting her family and loved ones. Years later, she is pursued by a mysterious Ukrainian, and soon finds herself right back in the biggest nightmare of her life. Fate brings her back to Joe, and knowing Ella's still in danger, Joe vows to keep her safe. But can he succeed? Or will the danger that still threatens her freeze any second chance they have at a happily-ever-after? Disclaimers: I own nothing or anyone associated or affiliated with TNA. I own only the original characters. This is just a fictional story that came from my imagination.Chapter Content & Trigger Warnings: Some blood in a flash back sequence

Note: Ages will be messed with a tad to make the story work. So hopefully that won't confuse anyone.

Chapter 1

John Wayne Airport Santa Ana, California

March 17, 1994

Fifteen-year-old Ella Roberts hurried out of the airport's terminal and then giggled when she spotted her best friend, Joe Seanoa. She ran to him and squealed in delight as he lifted her up, swinging her around in his arms.

"Happy birthday," she said, hugging him close. "I've missed you!"

Joe chuckled, and hugged the bouncy teenager tighter. "I've missed you too, baby girl." He put her down then, looking her over. She was still as scrawny as ever. Her dark, shoulder-length hair was pulled back into its usual ponytail. But her glasses were missing. "Whoa—what happened to your glasses? Please tell me you didn't leave them at home," he said, tilting her chin back to inspect her eyes more closely. She did not appear to be experiencing any problems in seeing her surroundings.

Ella laughed. "I had a surgery a few months ago to correct my astigmatism."

"Awesome," Joe grinned, and after a moment, pulled away. "How do ya like it?"

"Well, the surgery wasn't fun, that's for sure. But I do love being able to see with no glasses or contacts."

"I bet you do. And now the world can see those pretty blue eyes better," he teased, as he led her over to the baggage claim carousel. He noticed the flush that crept up her face when he reached for the bag she pointed at. Minutes later, they headed out of the airport in search of his car.

Everyone knew about Ella's strong attachment to Joe, just as they knew he didn't reciprocate her feelings. While she was only a couple years younger than he—fifteen, to his seventeen years—she still looked like a kid. Joe felt certain she would blossom as she grew older, however this had no effect on him. He had Christy, the girl of his dreams. And she was the remaining reason why he did not, and would not have feelings for Ella.

He realized, as he placed her bag in the backseat of his Nissan Pathfinder and opened the passenger door for his young friend, the news of his girlfriend was something he needed to break to the girl—along with the fact that he had joined the United Independent Wrestling Alliance.

Jeff Jarrett, Ella's uncle, had helped him get into the prestigious wrestling school, and Joe couldn't have felt more ready to begin training. He knew leaving meant he would not get to visit Ella or the majority of their friends, but it was a sacrifice he would be willing to make. Staying busy, and most likely exhausted in the beginning, he wasn't sure he'd mind the solitude too much. Besides, he wouldn't be completely alone. Christy would be training there, as well as a few of his friends.

He glanced over at Ella as he pulled onto the freeway. How he would tell her about the news, he did not know. What he did know, as he signaled and switched lanes, was that he would have to tell her very soon. "So, did you enjoy your flight," he asked, trying not to dwell on the inevitable.

"It was scary," Ella laughed. "I've never flown anywhere before, and then to do it by myself…" She shuddered. "But it was worth it," she added in a hurry, worried she would offend him. "To be here for your birthday party, I would've flown twice the distance."

Joe smiled, and started to wink at her, but stopped himself. He did not want to encourage her romantic feelings for him. Instead, he cleared his throat and began to ramble. "Well, it isn't really what I'd call a 'birthday party'. It's more like a get-together or just 'party'. 'Birthday party' just sounds too…"

"Girlie?"

"Well, the word, childish, came to mind. But yeah, 'girlie' works too," he chuckled. "Oh, and I'd better warn you—pass this on to the other girls your age if I don't get the chance to—do not drink the punch. I know for a fact it'll be spiked since my parents are out of town. The last thing I want is a bunch of young teenage girls running around, drunk."

"Courtesy of James and Robert," Ella asked, laughing.

"You know them all too well," Joe shook his head, only half teasing. "Remind me to keep them away from you. You don't need to be subjected to their brand of corruption. Your parents would never let you come here again."

He knew in truth however, even if the young girls got plastered, none of his friends, even on their drunkest day, would do any harm to them. They were a big family of friends, and because of this, the guys happened to be very protective of the girls.

Ella blushed, knowing full well what Joe meant by the remarks on James and Robert. She had long ago learned about the birds and the bees thanks to the two rednecks' various comments about the opposite sex. If they hadn't been underage, she knew for a fact her uncle would have beaten the devil out of them for that particular stunt. Ella tried to explain to Jeff that they didn't realize she was within earshot, but he would not listen. The two boys got a tongue-lashing they would not soon forget.

Shooting his gaze in her direction, Joe caught the flush creeping up her neck and face before she could collect herself. "What did they do," he demanded, wondering if he had misjudged the two ruffians after all. What if they've mistreated Ella in some way, he wondered, growing angry from just the thought.

"Oh, Joe… They didn't do anything, really. Uncle Jeff handled the problem immediately. They just made some—very adult remarks. But they didn't know I could hear them, so don't go on a rampage," she joked. "They apologized to both Uncle Jeff and I—and they were very sincere about it. I think they really did feel terrible about the whole thing."

"They better be glad Jeff's the one who caught them, and not me."

"Oh, don't worry. I know you would've gotten the job done very well, but Uncle Jeff didn't do too shabby either," she said, chuckling at the memory.

"Well, you have to at least let me have some fun with them when they come over," Joe joked, as he reached for the knob on the radio and turned it to his favorite station. In the next instant, Melissa Etheridge's "Come To My Window" blasted through the speakers. "I love this song," Ella squealed, and proceeded to belt out her best to the song's chorus.

"Come to my window Crawl inside, wait by the light of the moon Come to my window I'll be home soon"

Joe was astounded. "Whoa, girl… You've got some serious pipes," he exclaimed, glancing over at her. He could not believe such a big voice could come out of such a petite girl.

"Thanks," she replied, looking down at her lap. "I love to sing. I've been in choir since middle school."

"And you should stick with it," Joe encouraged, as he veered to the right so he could get on his exit. "You're so tiny and you can sing like that? I guess dynamite really does come in small packages."

Ella giggled, and smacked Joe's shoulder. "I'm not that little."

Remembering how she felt insecure about her scrawny figure, Joe averted her attention back to the topic at hand. "Ya gotta promise me you'll keep singing. Take voice lessons, choir, whatever you can to keep your voice and develop it even more."

She beamed, truly touched by his words of encouragement. "Okay, I will. I promise." She took a moment to look over at him and study his gorgeous features while he drove. She realized nothing romantic would ever happen between them, but she could always hope.

Joe was on the rotund side, however his size never hurt his looks in the least. His thick hair, black as pitch, he always wore cropped short. His dark, olive-toned skin contrasted deeply with the ivory shade of Ella's complexion. His nose, strong and broad, tapered downward, like that of a Samoan warrior. His eyes were the same shade of black as his hair, the color of night. Having never seen anyone with eyes the shade of his, they actually were the first feature she noticed when she met him.

In the beginning, Joe wanted nothing to do with Ella, which wasn't surprising. Looking back, she realized no ten-year-old boy wanted to befriend a runt of a girl of eight years, but the rejection stung, nonetheless. She'd been infatuated with Joe from the first moment she laid eyes on him.

Ella and her parents had gone for a visit to her Uncle Jeff's and Aunt Nina's country home. The Jarretts loved having big get-togethers with their close friends and family. When the Robertses entered the house, Ella's curious blue eyes swept over her aunt and uncle, then shifted past them to the three older boys who were sitting on the floor playing with G.I. Joes. Two of them, Robbie Roode and Jimmy Storm, children of some of the Jarrett's family friends, had medium to dark brown hair and bright blue eyes. She already met them about a year prior however, so her probing gaze immediately moved over to the boy whom she never saw before. The adults watched as she made her way over to him.

The little boy, who held her undivided attention, had jet-black hair, dark skin, and onyx-colored eyes. Little Ella was awe-struck. With a small child's typical curiosity, she did not hesitate in sitting down right beside him on the floor.

"I'm Ella," she smiled. "What's your name?"

"Joe," the boy said without giving her a moment's consideration. He continued playing with his G.I. Joes, trying in vain to ignore her.

But she would not have that. She reached over and turned his face to hers, seeking a better look at his fascinating features.

Then Ella's Aunt Nina, with her photographer's eye urging her to snap a picture of the two, lifted her camera and captured a still of the two. She could just imagine the beauty and innocence of the children coming to life through the forthcoming photo.

"What are ya doing," Joe demanded, uncomfortable by the little girl's deep inspection.

"Your eyes…" Ella stared into his face, obviously enamored of the boy.

"What about 'em," he asked, removing her hand from his face.

"So pretty…" a flash of a dimple appeared in each cheek as she grinned at him.

"They are not," the Samoan boy shot back in a defensive tone, and jumped to his feet. "Boys are not pretty. Come on, guys," he said to Jimmy and Robbie. "Let's go outside and play."

"Joel Seanoa, you apologize to her this second," Jeff cut in. "Your parents let you stay here for the week, but you will behave yourself or you'll not come here by yourself again."

Joe looked down at Ella, a look of resentment on his face. "I'm sorry," he said, none too convincing. Then he began grabbing up the G.I. Joes and their vehicles. Within seconds, the three young boys had run outside, with Ella following close behind, intent on keeping Joe in her sights.

When Ella grew older, Andrea Roberts bestowed her daughter with the photograph of her and Joe during their first encounter. "I love it," Ella exclaimed. "Where did it come from?"

"Your aunt took it the day you two met, right when you turned Joe's face to yours," Andrea replied, hugging her daughter. "I thought you'd like to have a copy. It's an adorable photo."

In all honesty, Ella was ecstatic to receive it since she and Joe had, at last, become friends. Oh, how I thought the day would never come, she thought now, gazing out the passenger window as Joe shifted gears on his Pathfinder. She also remembered the day when any hope she held for them becoming friends dissipated. It was my own fault, she thought, thinking back on the occasion when Joe verbally wounded her pride. She had been following him, along with a group of his friends, all over the Jarrett property. Everywhere they went, she was right behind them. She kept thinking if she clung to Joe enough, he would sooner or later accept her into his group of buddies. She'd never met someone who did not want to be her friend.

Ella then realized how spoiled she once was; a sweet, loving child, but spoiled nonetheless. Accustomed to everyone doting on her, she could not fathom Joe disliking her.

However, on the day she painfully recalled, Joe had ripped into her with a vengeance after she followed him and his friends out onto a field. She watched them split into two teams for a game of tag football and then approached them, asking to play also.

Reaching his breaking point, Joe counted to ten in his head. "This is a boys' sport," he answered finally.

"So what," the little girl persisted with her usual exuberance, thrilled that Joe spoke to her. Any attention from him was good attention in her young mind. Her dark curls bobbed as she tapped her little foot in waiting for his response.

"I don't like you," Joe burst out, his teeth clenching in frustration. "Why do you follow me all the time? You're a girl! I don't play with little girls! Just leave me alone!" His fascinating black eyes glittered with fury as he lashed out at her.

Ella stepped back, stung by his cruel dismissal. It finally did get through to her that Joe would never play with her and he would never be her friend. He hated her. Tears stung her sapphire eyes as she cried out, "I just wanted to play!" She turned and ran for the house, mortified beyond words.

She never figured out why, but just a few moments later, Joe approached her and apologized. He still made it clear he did not wish to be friends, nor did he wish to play with her, but he seemed genuinely sorry for his actions, just the same.

Ella's reverie from the past faded, and she slowly returned to the present moment in time. Looking at Joe, she found his curious gaze on her face. He averted his eyes so he could turn onto a street, and then glanced at her again. "We'll be home in a couple minutes, so we can actually sit and talk. I'm not really driving very safely when I keep looking over at you."

She nodded and smiled, reminiscence abundant in her eyes. "I was just remembering how rocky our friendship started out."

Joe knew how he'd hurt the girl over the years, and felt terrible all over again. "I'm really sorry. I know I was just a kid too, but I shouldn't have treated you so badly."

"Oh, Joe… You didn't treat me any different to what any other young boy would have. I didn't bring it up to make you feel guilty. I actually look back on it with fondness now. The one thing I'm curious about now is…why did you come back and apologize to me that day?"

Joe drove up into his driveway then, and killed the engine. "Do you want to go inside and talk, or hang out in the backyard?"

"The backyard sounds great," Ella replied, reaching for her bag.

"Eh, just leave it for now," he said, opening his door. "I'll come get it after a little while."

Heeding his instructions, she got out of the car, following him around the house to the back yard. Right away, she spotted a huge swimming pool that was shielded from view by a tall, white privacy fence. Taking a seat by the pool's edge and tugging their shoes off, neither spoke for what seemed a long time. Ella could see the distance in Joe's eyes, and felt horrible about putting him on the spot.

"I'm sorry," she finally broke the silence. "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable with my question. I was just curious, that's all."

"Elles…You didn't make me 'uncomfortable' exactly," Joe replied as they let their bare feet dangle into the pool's cool water. "I was—I am—going to answer your question. But I wanted to find the right words first, because I don't want you to get the wrong idea. Believe me, my apology was genuine."

"Okay, fair enough," Ella said with a nod, awaiting what he had to say.

"I apologized to you that day because I knew it was the right thing to do. However, I had some help in realizing the fact." He ran his hand through his thick, black hair, and continued. "Matt Hardy heard everything I said to you. He came up to me, and the guys, and let me know he would tell Jeff and my parents what I said to you, if I didn't apologize."

"Oh," Ella said, looking down at the pool. "Well, I know now—I embarrassed you. I just didn't realize-"

"No, Ella…The blame is mine. All of it. I know what you're thinking," he said, tilting her chin upward, so her eyes met his. "And you're wrong. Just because Matt gave me an ultimatum doesn't mean the apology wasn't real. I meant every word—I already felt terrible about the whole situation before Matt even talked to me. So don't you dare think I did it just to get out of a punishment."

"Joe, it's okay, really—it's in the past. It doesn't even matter anyway."

"Yes, it does " Joe said, patting her leg. "I want you to know right now—I've always regretted how I treated you. And I've always been thankful and glad I apologized to you that day. Because not only did you save my life later on, you've become one of my best friends as a result."

"What else would I have done? I only did what anyone else would have."

"Don't let me hear you downplay what you did for me ever again," he added. "You supported most of my weight, and I was over twice your size."

Ella looked away, her face flushing at the memory of the day Joe's life was endangered.

Time seemed to fly by since the day Joe blew up at Ella. Disappointed to learn he did not want her friendship, she, in time, came to accept that he would merely be polite to her. And that's the way their relationship went for the next few years.

But then the day came when their truce took a drastic turn.

Joe had just turned fifteen, and he was thinking a lot about his future. He had been training in Judo for a long while, but it wasn't anything he wanted to do for the rest of his life, he knew. Not exclusively anyway. He wanted Jeff's kind of life. He wanted the excitement and adrenaline rush wrestling gave. He loved the maneuvers and mat skills which many of his favorite wrestlers possessed. Hoping Jeff would help him, he discussed his dilemma with the veteran. After taking in the young man's request for help, and noting the passion with which he spoke, Jeff made a deal with him.

"I tell ya what kid," Jeff had said. "I'll train you a little. I want you to work hard, and prove to me how badly you want it. If you do prove yourself, and show potential, I'll help you get into a wrestling school to train you more fully."

Joe of course jumped on the deal and showed his desire to work hard for what he wanted. He began working out every day, lifting weights and jogging long distances. Even when he was visiting the Jarrett family, he could often be found jogging through their woods. He soon knew the land like the back of his hand. Which, unfortunately, was not enough to save him from his fate.

Jeff warned Joe about the poachers who were caught hunting on the family's land on more than one occasion. He also let him know of the precautions he was taking to keep the illegal hunters away from the Jarrett's home. Nonetheless, he made Joe promise to be careful and return to the house if he saw anything suspicious. Joe did promise, but being a typical teenage boy, he felt he could handle any situation he might come across.

He realized, however, as his ankle and shin exploded in a blast of fiery torture, he had been over-confident in his abilities. He crashed to the ground screaming and grabbed his leg, feeling an iron-like metal beneath his fingertips. He growled through the pain, as he positioned himself to see what had crushed his leg. He rose up a little more and immediately spotted the bear trap, and the rather large amount of blood pooling beneath it.

"Oh, God," Joe cried, grasping both sides of the trap. He pulled as hard as he could and got the trap to open a few inches. Shifting his leg, he edged it closer to the opening bit by bit. Pain shot up his shin and seared his whole leg. Flinching, he lost his grip on the trap's mouth and the device slammed shut over his ankle again. A loud curse flew from his lips. He collapsed back across the grass, panting against the pain which pulsed around his injured leg. He needed someone to hold the trap while he pulled his leg free.

Joe knew he was losing too much blood when he felt a thick mental fog settle into his senses and his thoughts no longer made any sense. His vision was blurring, and his skin was growing moist. He uttered another curse and rested his head against the ground as he fought to stay conscious. Little did he know, a few hundred yards away, his rescue would come in the form of a thirteen year old girl.

}i{}i{}i{}i{

Ella sat on the plush St. Augustine grass, keeping her eyes hidden under the flattened palms of her hands as she counted to thirty. "Twenty-eight…twenty-nine…thirty! READY OR NOT…HERE I COME," she bellowed, feeling quite silly. She and her friends were thirteen years old, and still playing Hide-and-Go-Seek. It was more a tradition than anything else, but she still felt ridiculous that they still played the childish game.

She stood to her feet, and set off to find her friends, Talia Madison, and Angel Williams. Right away, she headed for the large storage unit behind the Jarrett's home. She smiled, knowing that Angel and Talia never learned. They always hid in the storage unit, without fail. Whether it was under a tarp, in the tool closet, or behind the riding lawn mower, she always knew where to find her best friends. She quickly began lifting drop cloths and opening closets and cabinets. She looked around every piece of large equipment, and over every inch of the storage room.

"Shoot…they actually tried hiding somewhere else for a change," she said in astonishment. "Now where do I look?"

There were many hiding places on the large acreage of land, but she decided to search the woods first. She remembered tons of trees, shrubs, and logs with which to hide, so it was the more obvious choice of where to take her quest. With dusk falling, she took a flashlight out of the tool closet, and hurried back outside. She took off at a run, eager to finish the game. Soon it would be dark as pitch. The dark didn't scare her, but she knew her parents would become worried. And then she would be in trouble.

Within minutes, she reached the forest and turned on her flashlight. Circling trees in a hurry, she was certain she would find her friends at any moment. However, many trees later, she grew frustrated. She groaned as she began running further into the woods, sweeping the light from side to side in front of her, trying to see through the thick, black darkness. The dense shelter of trees made the evening appear even darker, and if not for the flashlight, Ella would've been unable to see where she was going. "Okay, guys," she shouted, stopping in her tracks to listen for footsteps. She flashed the light around her, trying to catch her friends' movement. "It's too dark to play now! We need to go back to the house!" She gasped when she heard leaves crackling and a soft, pained groan. "Wh-who's there?" she asked, spinning around to get a look at the sound's source. She finally settled the light on a large heap on the ground, and realized in horror that it was a person!

"Help…" came another wounded grunt.

Ella froze. She would know that voice anywhere. "Joe," she cried, hurrying toward him. She could see his large frame lying on the ground, his face a mask of pain.

"Wait! Ella—stop!"

She halted and stared at him, fear evident in her eyes, "What is it? Joe, what's wrong?"

"I was jogging, and hit a bear trap. The poachers…" he trailed off, trying to gain the strength to speak again. "Go get help. It's not safe for you here. There could be more traps. Or even hunters."

Ella ignored his words of caution as she rushed over to him, "There is no way I'm leaving you here like this," she said as she crouched down beside him. "I don't know if I could find you again in the dark, and—Oh, my God! Joe, you've lost a lot of blood." She took in the sight of the trap digging furiously into his ankle and shin. It looked as though it had snapped his bone.

"You have to go get help, Ella," he insisted. "There's no way I can make it back to the house without help."

"You're going to have help," she said, the famous 'Jarrett Family Stubbornness' giving her the strength and courage to take charge. "Hold this," she ordered, handing the flashlight to him. "Shine the light on your leg so I can see what I'm doing."

"Ella—"

"Just do it, Joe! We don't have time to argue!"

He groaned in frustration, as well as pain, when he shifted his weight to accept the flashlight.

"Keep the light on the trap, and when I get it open, be ready to pull your leg free."

"You'll never be able to get this thing open," he said through clenched teeth.

"Don't underestimate me," were the last words Joe heard her say right before she gripped the sides of the trap and pulled with all her might. He screamed in pain, but Ella was forced to ignore it. She knew she had to get the trap off of him. She shrieked, straining with everything she had in order to pull the contraption's jaws apart. Her biceps burned like fire, but she would not give up. Seconds later, she felt the device opening and found one last ounce of strength. With a scream of determination, she wrenched the jaws apart and grasped them in her trembling hands. "Now, Joe," she cried, her voice shaking, "Get out, now!"

For a moment, he was frozen in amazement at the strength the young girl had. He knew he would never misjudge her abilities again. He came to his senses when he heard her let out a weakening groan. He ignored the fear of pain, gritted his teeth and yanked his leg free of the trap.

When he had his leg out of harm's way, Ella let the trap slam shut again, and fell back onto the grass, panting from her exertion. She looked over at Joe then, and saw that he was holding onto his leg for dear life and groaning in pain. "How are you doing," she asked, crawling over to him and grabbing up the flashlight. She aimed the light down at his ankle and gasped.

There was an excessive amount of blood flowing free from the jagged wounds. Thankful she had picked up a little bit of medical knowledge from her father, she immediately began yanking her belt free of her jeans. Then she wrapped the leather strap above the wounds on Joe's leg. "I'm so sorry, Joe. This will hurt," she whispered as she began cinching the belt up, and then secured it as tight as she could.

Joe yelled and latched onto his knee, afraid to touch the area Ella was treating.

Tears welled up and burned her eyes as she squeezed his hand. "I'm so sorry," she repeated. "I didn't want it to hurt you, but I needed to try and stop the bleeding."

"It—It's okay," he said. "N-not so bad."

"Liar," Ella said. She began helping him to his feet.

"We'll never make it back to the house," he told her, trying to stand without putting his weight on her.

She tried to smirk at him and keep his mind off the injury. "And you want to be a wrestler?" She shook her head and clicked her tongue. "You're going to need more determination than that." With a little more fussing and assistance from Ella, Joe managed to stand, keeping his injured leg bent so he was putting no weight on it. She got on his injured side, so as to support the lamed side when he was stepping with his good leg, and then draped one of his arms over her shoulders. Wrapping one of hers around his waist, she spoke with authority. "We'll take it slow."

"Very slow," Joe groaned through clenched teeth. "I'm going to apologize in advance for any curse words that will probably come out of my mouth."

"No big deal," the young girl replied, keeping her hold on him. "Come on, try to keep moving."

The two were moving at a snail's pace, heading back to the Jarrett's home. Joe had to pause a few times to catch his breath, and to fight the dizziness that was claiming him. The last thing he wanted was to pass out and fall on top of Ella.

"You're doing great," she encouraged, gripping the hand hanging over her shoulder. "Not too much farther now," she fibbed, eyeing the long distance to the house.

"Now, you're the liar," Joe muttered.

"Oh, yeah? On what count," Ella asked, trying to distract him from the long trek.

"On two counts," he shot back. "I'm not doing great. And it is much farther." A much more colorful curse flew from his lips then, and he slumped a little. Ella pulled him closer against her.

"Come on—we have to keep moving. You can do this."

He groaned softly. "Ella—You're gonna get hurt…"

"I'm fine, Joe. You're the one that's hurt."

Though it was too late, she figured out what he actually meant, when his tall frame toppled and took her down to the ground. She grunted under his weight, and nudged his shoulder. "Joe?" He was out cold, and lay limp against her. Reaching up to his face and placing her hand to his forehead, she discovered his skin to be freezing and clammy. It's summertime and he's sweaty. He shouldn't be cold, she thought, her heart pounding. "Joe! Joe, wake up!" Ella pushed at his large frame a few times in the hopes of rolling him over to the side so she could get free and go for help. To her dismay, she discovered he could not be budged. Oh, God, I need Daddy! She wrapped her arms around Joe's shoulders and held him close, trying to warm him with her body heat. "HELP! SOMEBODY, HELP US," she screamed, unsure of what else to do.

"Ella!"

"Joe!"

"Giselle Symone Roberts! Where are you?!"

"Yell back to us!"

Ella heard several voices, her parents and Uncle Jeff, Aunt Nina, Talia, Angel, among others. "DADDY," she screamed at the top of her lungs. "Daddy! Help!"

"Where are you, baby," came the doctor's shouted reply.

Ella had no idea of how to describe where she was. She looked around her and saw the flashlight lying on the ground, just out of her reach. She stretched and strained and pushed at Joe in order to reach the large light. Her fingertips brushed over it and she clawed at it then, desperate to attain it.

"ELLA!"

Finally her hand closed over the handle of the large flashlight, and she began waving it above her and Joe. "I have a flashlight," she yelled back in answer. "Look for the light!"

She kept waving it and waving it, hoping her family and friends would spot them soon.

"I see it, honey! We're coming," she heard her uncle shout.

Within minutes, a group of her friends and relatives were surrounding her and Joe.

"Daddy, you have to help Joe," the young girl cried, trying to nudge the boy off her again, so she could stand and explain. "He hit a bear trap deep in the woods. I was trying to help him back—but he's passed out."

James Storm and Robert Roode began pulling Joe off of Ella. Jeff, instructed them to roll him over so Nathan Roberts could inspect the boy's wounded leg. Then Andrea tugged her daughter to her feet and hugged her close.

"Did you get hurt, baby?"'

"No." Ella shook her head and held on to her mother as her legs threatened to buckle. "But Joe's hurt badly." The shock of the past hour caught up with her, and a sob tore from her lips. "His leg—what if the damage is permanent?" She knew how hard Joe had trained in Judo, and she also knew how badly he wanted to become a wrestler.

"Shh, baby—wait and see. I'm sure he'll be just fine," Andrea comforted her.

"We're going to have to call an ambulance," Nathan said, "He's lost a lot of blood and we don't have any way of getting him to one of the cars without risking more damage."

"I'll go call for one," AJ Styles said. He was a couple years older than Joe, but was also training to wrestle, and had become one of the Samoan's closer friends.

"Could you take Ella back with you," Nathan asked, looking at his shaken daughter. "She needs to rest, I'm sure." It had just occurred to him that his little girl had saved Joe's life, and marveled at her strength in helping the large boy as far along as she did. He was beyond proud of her when he saw her belt secured around Joe's leg.

"Sure thing," AJ answered, turning to Ella. "Come on, little darlin'. Let's get you back to the house," he drawled, lifting her up into his arms as he hurried toward the house.

Ella wrapped her arms around his neck and burrowed her face against his chest, grateful for not having to walk the long distance.

"You did an amazing job, little girl," AJ praised as he jogged for the house. "Did you learn some stuff from your daddy," he asked, trying to keep her mind off Joe. He felt her nod her head, and tightened his arms around her. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

"Don't worry, honey. Joe'll be alright," AJ said, soothing away her fears. "You did everything right."

He felt her little body shaking and heard small sobs ripping from her throat. "Then why does it feel like it wasn't enough? What if Joe doesn't heal correctly and he can't wrestle?"

"Shh, none of us could have done anything more than what you did," he told her. "And I'm sure Joe will heal just fine," he lied. In all honesty, he did not know the extent of the damage to Joe's leg, but he had to keep Ella from worrying.

They reached the house then, and AJ ran inside, gently depositing Ella onto the large sofa once he reached the den. He grabbed the cordless phone off of an end table and just seconds later, he was speaking with a 9-1-1 dispatcher.

"Seems like longer than two years ago, doesn't it?"

Ella came out of her daydream, and discovered Joe's dark eyes fixed on her face. She smiled, but with a slight sorrow written across her face. "How did you know what I was thinking about?"

"Because I could see it on your face."

"It was a scary night to remember," she replied with a sigh, looking down at the swimming pool.

"But I wouldn't change it for the world," Joe told her. "You more than proved your friendship to me. Even though I didn't deserve it. Even though you didn't have mine." He avoided her eyes, obviously ashamed of himself. "Someday, I hope I have the opportunity to prove my friendship to you. I just hope it's not due to something so dangerous."

"You don't need to," Ella smiled again, all traces of sadness gone. "I know you. And I know you are my best friend."

"I'm glad. But I still wish I could find a way to prove myself. I feel like I owe you that much, at the very least." He glanced down at his watch then, needing to hide his emotions. His mind drifted back to the day after his accident, and remembered how scared Ella looked, entering his hospital room.

She had ridden in a tense silence all the way to the hospital with her parents. Joe's parents had arrived in Nashville during the middle of the night, and had informed Jeff and the family of the surgery Joe had on his ankle and calf. They were relieved to find out his leg was expected to heal with no problems. They also learned Joe, as long as his leg healed as expected, could return to his training and exercise, after completing physical therapy and rehab.

The Robertses soon were entering the hospital and getting on the elevator, bound for the fifth floor where Joe was staying. Ella wrinkled her nose at the harsh, invasive smell of anti-bacterial soaps and cleaners which seemed to linger in every corner of the hospital. She gripped her father's hand as they neared Joe's private room. Nathan squeezed hers in return and gave her an encouraging smile. All the consoling in the world had not made her feel better. She was worried sick about Joe, and her parents knew that nothing would comfort her except to see him with her own eyes.

Once they reached the room, they had to wait for a few moments because his doctor was examining him. Ella fidgeted with some annoyance, till the door opened, and the doctor emerged with a nurse. He smiled warmly at them. "Family?"

Jeff nodded. "You could say that. We're all family, or family friends."

"Is he okay," Ella cut in.

The doctor gave her a compassionate smile. "You must be Ella. Yes, he's doing fine. And he's been asking to see you for the past hour."

"Really," Ella asked in amazement.

"He sure has," the doctor winked at her, and opened the room's door. "Go on in and see him for a little while. I'll talk to your family."

Ella did not hesitate in the least, as she pushed through the door and hurried into the room. Joe lay in a hospital bed with an IV in his arm. He was a little pale, and looked as though, despite the pain medicine he had just received, he was in a lot of pain.

"Oh, Joe…" she whispered. "Are you okay?" She moved to the side of the bed and reached out to touch his forehead, testing for fever.

He nodded and whispered. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'd be a lot worse off if not for you. Are you okay? I heard I did just what I was afraid I would do—I passed out on top of you," he said, shaking his head.

"I'm fine," Ella said. "You didn't hurt me at all, so don't worry about it."

"Come here," Joe said softly, opening his arms to her.

Ella's heart leaped. It was as if she felt she had finally won his approval. She climbed onto the bed beside him and entered his embrace with caution so as not to hurt him further. She felt him wrap his arms around her and hold her close as she snuggled against his chest.

"I'm a selfish jerk, aren't I," he whispered into her hair. "You only wanted my friendship and I wouldn't give it to you. I'm sorry. I deserve whatever would've happened if you hadn't come along and found me."

"No you don't," she said. "I'm so glad you're okay."

Joe smiled, and stroked the young girl's ponytail. "Why are you so nice to me, Ella? I never gave you any reason to be."

She shook her head, "What kind of world would we live in, if everyone was only nice to everyone else because they wanted something in return? Besides, I was nice to you because I wanted to be your friend. Just because you didn't want my friendship didn't mean you didn't have it, anyway."

"Well, I'd love to be your friend now, if you don't hate me."

Ella rose up and smiled at him. "I don't hate you."

Now, as Joe fiddled with a button on his shirt, he smiled, knowing he would never forget the day Ella had won him over.

"What are you grinning about," she asked, beaming as a result of his contagious dimpled smile.

"Just remembering the day after my accident," he answered. "Makes me kind of thankful for the accident itself. It helped me realize something about myself."

"Oh, yeah? What was that?"

"I was a jackass."

Ella burst out laughing. "Oh, no you weren't."

He looked over at her then, laughing also, and saw the adoration on her young face. His laughing ceased slowly, and his facial expression lost its humor. This is it, he thought in dread, I have to tell her about Christy. And about UIWA. He opened his mouth to speak, but was immediately delayed by the commotion known as Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley.

"Giselle's here," they yelled, running up to her and lifting her up into a sandwiched hug.

She hugged them back, and replied laughing. "Call me Giselle again and I'll shove you into the pool."

"And we'll take you with us, pipsqueak," Alex teased, tugging on her ponytail.

"Fat chance," Ella shot back. "I'm too quick for you old timers."

Joe watched in amazement as Ella held her own with his two friends. He could not fathom how she had, at only fifteen years of age, won over such a rough group of guys. Whether they were discussing when their next drinking party would occur or bragging about their love lives, if they saw Ella approaching they turned into a bunch of teddy bears. Surprised to find most of the girls' parents gave them permission to attend a party where so many older teenagers would be—without a chaperone no less—Joe supposed it was because they were family and they all trusted one another.

"Ella," came a high-pitched shriek from the side of the house. The small group of friends turned just in time to see Talia Madison, and Angel Williams buzzing past the patio furniture and heading toward them.

"Oh, my God! Talia! Angel," Ella squealed in return and ran the rest of the way to her friends.

Joe smiled as he watched the three girls embrace, but still dreaded the news he knew he had to give Ella later on. It was going to be the most difficult thing he'd ever done.

Needing to vent his frustration, he grabbed Sabin without warning, and threw him into the pool. A second later, Chris emerged through the surface coughing, and spluttered. "No fair, Joe! I didn't have my flippers on yet!" This earned a hearty round of laughter from the teenagers. Not even Joe could stifle his amusement. A huge war ensued thereafter, with each of the youths throwing one another into the large swimming pool.

For the time being, Joe's nerves were relieved.

[pastelbatfandoms]

Never Ending OC Survey

BASICS.

FULL  NAME :  Roxy Mcmahon

NICKNAME : Rox,Foxy Roxy

PET NAMES: Babe,baby girl (by most of her boys) Princess (From Shane),Darlin’ and Sweetheart (By AJ and Mox),Pup or She Wolf (By Baron),Little Lamb (By Bray)

AGE :  30 (looks younger)

BIRTHDAY : April 27

ETHNIC  GROUP : 

NATIONALITY : Native American,French Canadian

LANGUAGE / S :english,knows some Japanese and French

SEXUAL  ORIENTATION : Pansexual

ROMANTIC  ORIENTATION : Demiromantic

RELATIONSHIP  STATUS :  Taken (Polyamoures) 

HOME  TOWN / AREA :  Washington

CURRENT  HOME :  Connecticut 

PROFESSION : Pro Wrestling

PHYSICAL.

HAIR : Naturally brown,Mid-back length. Has been Blond,Red and Black.

EYES : Brown

FACE : Heart shaped,dimples in cheeks

LIPS : bow shaped

COMPLEXION : Porcelain. but can Tan.

BLEMISHES : Some small moles

SCARS : On Arms from Wrestling as well as a long one on her back from being put through a glass table.

TATTOOS :  N/A

HEIGHT :  5′1″

WEIGHT : Average.

BUILD : Muscular but lean

FEATURES :  Piercing eyes, long fingers and small hands,high cheekbones

ALLERGIES :  None.

USUAL  HAIR  STYLE :  Typically left down,or half up half down. in a braid or high ponytail while wrestling.

USUAL  MAKEUP  LOOK : Used to just wear Cat eyeliner and Gloss now wears alot more mainly Eyeliner,Mascara,Different Eyeshadows,Highlighter and Lipstick or Gloss (depending on who she’s with)

USUAL  CLOTHING : Depends on who she’s coming out with. Usually a T shirt or dress with her Man’s logo on it. Anything sexy yet comfortable. A long black robe or gothic dress when she was with The Undertaker.

PSYCHOLOGY.

FEAR / S : Losing her loved one’s,not being a part of WWE or Wrestling in general anymore. But hey she did marry into the business so...

ASPIRATION / S :  To be one of the best female Wrestling managers like Sherri Shepherd,Trish Stratus or Vickie Guerrero. 

POSITIVE  TRAITS : Perceptive,caring,tough,brave,good on the mic,charming,affectionate,open minded.

NEGATIVE  TRAITS : Stubborn, temperamental,arrogant,impulsive,indecisive.

MBTI : INFP

ZODIAC  / Taurus

TEMPERAMENT :  Hot headed

SOUL  TYPE / S : ??

ANIMALS :  Cat.

VICE HABIT / S : um Sex lol

FAITH : Agnostic

GHOSTS ? : Yes.

AFTERLIFE ? : Yes

REINCARNATION ? :  Yes.

ALIENS ? :  Yes

POLITICAL ALIGNMENT : Democrat

EDUCATION  LEVEL : High School

FATHER : Deceased. Father in Law is Vince Mcmahon

MOTHER : Alive. Very Close,used to wrestle for GLOW

SIBLINGS : Sister in law Stephanie Mcmahon. Has 3 Sisters and 2 Brothers all in the Wrestling Industry. (AEW & TNA) Her brothers are famed high flyers Matt and Jeff Hardy. 

EXTENDED  FAMILY : Large! Nieces,nephews,Aunts,uncles and Cousins. 

NAME MEANING / S :Beautiful

HISTORICAL  CONNECTION ? : No.

FAVORITES.

BOOK :  Erotic Romance

DEITY : Aphrodite

HOLIDAY : Birthdays

MONTH : July

SEASON :  Summer

PLACE : Home or the wrestling arena,anywhere her men are.

WEATHER : Hot with a slight breeze

SOUND / S: The one’s her men make ;)

SCENT / S :  Sex, leather,Cologne.

TASTE / S : What do you think? ;) I’m going to say anything creamy lol.

FEEL / S :  Fur,Leather,skin

ANIMAL / S :  Cats and Dogs

NUMBER : 69

COLORS : Black,Red,Blue and Pink

EXTRA.

TALENTS : Wrestling, Dancing, quick learner

BAD  AT :  Maintaining balance when it matters, ignoring her more sexaul impulses

TURN  ONS : Piercing eyes, calm/suave personality, confidence, rugged exterior, Dominance. 

TURN  OFFS : Attention seeking, whiny, clingy,obnoxious,insecure.

HOBBIES : movies, reading,dancing,spending time with The Divas.

TROPES : 

QUOTES : “Well then I might just have to get a little unstable.” “Well I do tend to fall for the pretty boy assholes.” 

MUN QUESTIONS.

Q1 :  If you could write your character your way in their own movie,  what would it be called,  what style would it be filmed in, and what would it be about?          

I mean it would obviously be a Docudrama like Paige’s movie ‘Fighting with My Family.’

Q2 :  What would their soundtrack/score sound like? Metal mixed with Pop.         

A2 :  

Q3 :  Why did you start writing this character?          

A3 :  idk I was 13 lol

Q4 :   What first attracted you to this character?          

A4 : The Wrestlers she was with lol I also had the idea to act it out when they,Triple H,The Rock,ShanoMac ect,came to the ring and I would pretend that she was with them lol

Q5 :  Describe the biggest thing you dislike about your muse.

A5 : Maybe how fleeting some of her romances are or how she just seems to like those with gold. But hey I like who I like. 

Q6 :  What do you have in common with your muse?          

A6 : Her preference in men and how she looks ,her sun sign.

Q7 :   How does  your muse feel about  you?          

A7 :  .idk

Q8 :  What characters does your muse have interesting interactions with ?        

A8 :  Vince Mcmahon and Paul Heyman

Q9 :  What gives  you inspiration  to write  your muse ?        

A9 :  um watching Wrestling and dreams.

Q10 : How long did this take you to complete ? Along time because I forgot about it!

[heartheroarpromo-blog]

Hear The Roar, a non-AU wrestling roleplay group, is fast approaching its second birthday!  We’re a small but dedicated group, looking to welcome new faces!  There are many popular roles open, both male and female.  We welcome all WWE, ROH, TNA, NJPW, and independent wrestlers, as well as OCs.

Most Wanted Males

AJ Styles Aleister Black Authors of Pain Cesaro David Starr Dean Ambrose Flash Morgan Webster Hangman Adam Page Hideo Itami Kenny Omega Kevin Owens Mark Davis Pete Dunne Roman Reigns Sami Zayn Sanity Seth Rollins Trent Seven Tyler Bate Wolfgang Young Bucks

Most Wanted Females

Abbey Laith Alexa Bliss Alicia Fox Becky Lynch Charlotte Flair Deonna Purrazzo Ember Moon Kairi Sane Lacey Evans Liv Morgan Mandy Rose Paige Rhea Ripley Ruby Riot Sarah Logan Sasha Banks Shayna Baszler Sonya Deville

MAIN ○ RULES ○ ROSTER ○ APPLY

[wrestlersownmyheart]

Second Chances Ch. 26 (Book 1 In the "Chances" Series) *Samoa Joe X OC*

Pairing: Samoa Joe X Female OC

Summary:

Ella Roberts has led a traumatic life.

She witnessed her parents' murders at the age of eighteen, and narrowly escaped death herself, due to the intervention of Joe Seanoa, a close family friend. After she discovers she was the true target the night her parents were killed, she assumes a new identity and runs away with intentions of protecting her family and loved ones. Years later, she is pursued by a mysterious Ukrainian, and soon finds herself right back in the biggest nightmare of her life. Fate brings her back to Joe, and knowing Ella's still in danger, Joe vows to keep her safe. But can he succeed? Or will the danger that still threatens her freeze any second chance they have at a happily-ever-after?

Disclaimers: I own nothing or anyone associated or affiliated with TNA. I own only the original characters. This is just a fictional story that came from my imagination.

Chapter Content & Trigger Warnings: Nothing major. Some non-consensual groping.

Chapter 26

10 Years Later…

Breckinridge, Colorado~ 2008

Joe rode in silence as Jeff drove down the long highway to their next show.

"You sure you're okay to wrestle tonight," Jeff asked Joe, as he flipped on his blinker and switched lanes on the busy highway. "That chair shot you took looked really brutal."

Joe nodded, staring out the passenger side window. "Yeah, I'm good to go. It'll take a lot more than one of Steiner's chair shots to take me out of commission."

"Ya know," Jeff said gently, "the guys wouldn't be so hard on you if you'd lighten up on them. You scare half the roster anymore, Joe."

"That's their problem," Joe muttered.

"Yeah, but it becomes my problem when I can hardly get any of them to wrestle you. It puts me in a tough spot."

"Well, with all due respect, Jeff, we're wrestlers. Not ballet dancers. If they can't handle fighting me, they need to reevaluate their profession."

Jeff sighed, and decided to shut his mouth. When Joe didn't want to listen, he wouldn't. That's the way he always acted for as long as Jeff had known him, but it seemed to have gotten worse since Ella died. The large Samoan was extremely moody. He didn't joke—wouldn't even crack a smile. All he wanted to do was beat up his opponents, whether they were friends or not.

Friends, Jeff almost snorted. Joe doesn't even have friends anymore. Everyone's flat out scared of him. Even the knockouts seem petrified around him, and I know he'd never hurt a female.

It really bothered Jeff the way Joe and AJ no longer spoke at all. The two had been like brothers at one time, but Joe hadn't accepted the fact that what happened to Ella was not AJ's fault. Jeff knew it was Fournier's fault—and only Fournier's fault. But he had to admit—despite the love he felt for his late niece—Ella shouldn't have resorted to running away. She wouldn't have died if she hadn't.

But then he felt guilty for having such thoughts. No, Ella didn't have the right to turn her family's lives upside down in such a way—but on the other hand, she had panicked and most likely felt running was her only option.

He thought back to that night as he had many times, and knew none of them could have done anything differently. They couldn't leave Dixie to die a horrible death. They left the one person they knew without a doubt would guard Ella with his life and it still had not been enough.

Jeff looked over at Joe then and could see the emotional change in him as well as a physical one. The younger man's eyes had grown even darker over the years—a more intense shade of black. They'd grown cold as well. And he seemed to wear a perpetual scowl on his face at all times.

Except when he's luring a ring rat to bed, he thought disdainfully.

That was the change in Joe which Jeff hated most. He knew the one-night-stands were Joe's way of trying to cope—along with getting drunk quite often—but it disrespected Ella's memory.

"What would Ella think," Jeff muttered under his breath, unaware he was thinking aloud.

"What's that," Joe asked, staring Jeff down as though he were daring him to make him angry.

I might as well speak up, Jeff thought. I mean, what's he going to do? Try to punch me and wind up making me wreck the car?

Gathering his nerve, he finally spoke. "I have to say it, Joe. All the one-night-stands you have are just... wrong." He glanced at the Samoan and saw the muscle twitching in his jaw.

"How did you find out, and what business is it of yours," Joe asked in a quiet, but deadly tone of voice.

"Hotel rooms have thin walls, and when you're rooming next to co-workers… well, it's kinda hard to keep it quiet. And technically, it's none of my business," Jeff admitted. "But on a personal level, I'm concerned about you, as a friend—as a relative."

"You're not a relative," Joe said coldly. "You weren't a relative but for a few short hours."

The cutting remark couldn't have stung any less than a hard slap to the face. Jeff swallowed past the hurt however, and tried again. "Okay, fair enough," he said softly. "Nonetheless, I'm worried about you. All the alcohol and sex in the world isn't going to bring Ella back, Joe."

"I'm not trying to bring her back," Joe growled.

"Be that as it may," Jeff persisted. "You could lose any remaining chance for love by acting this way."

"I don't care," Joe snapped. "I've already been in love, and what did it get me? A dead wife!"

At that point, Jeff pulled into their hotel's garage and slid into a space. Killing the engine, Jeff turned to Joe with a deadly gleam in his usually kind blue eyes. "Never refer to Ella that way again."

"Why not," Joe challenged, fire entering the man's black eyes. "That's what she is."

"Get out of the car," Jeff yelled suddenly, finally at his breaking point. He opened his door and climbed out of the vehicle as Joe did the same.

"Now what," Joe shouted, marching up to the older wrestler.

"Now, we settle this," Jeff snarled, popping Joe in the chin with his fist. "I've had it, Joe. I've tried to be nice, and understanding. Clearly, taking you to the woodshed is the only thing that will get through to you!"

Joe lunged forward with an enraged scream and took Jeff down to the concrete, grabbing his throat. Before he could choke him, however, Jeff reached up and boxed his ears hard. Joe yelled out and rolled off Jeff, holding his head in his hands. Then it was Jeff's turn to tackle Joe. He pressed his shoulders against the pavement with his knees and broke loose with several punches to the angry Samoan's face. He was vaguely aware of another vehicle entering the garage and the engine roaring suddenly. The next thing he knew, tires screeched and then doors slammed. Then he was being pulled off Joe by a pair of arms. Two other sets grabbed hold of Joe to prevent him from attacking Jeff.

"What is wrong with you two," Steve Borden cried, holding on to Jeff.

"I was teaching the kid a lesson," Jeff shouted, struggling against Steve.

"Teaching me a lesson," Joe scoffed, and fought against Matt Morgan and Shawn Hernandez. "You just wait till I-"

"STOP!"

Everyone froze and looked at Steve. They'd never heard him raise his voice so loudly or so harshly before.

"This is insane," he continued once he had their attention. "Ella wouldn't have wanted this. She ran away in order to try and protect everyone. She died instead. And every bit of it was for nothing if you continue trying to kill each other!"

Jeff yanked his arms free. Then he pointed at Joe and glared. "I never want to hear you mention my niece again. Is this what would've happened if she'd lived and stayed with you, Joe? If she'd made you angry, or you grew bored with her…would she have had to put up with you drinking your life away and sleeping with any woman who crossed your path?"

"SHUT-UP!"

Joe tried to lunge at Jeff again, but was securely held back by Shawn and Matt.

"Chill out, bro," Shawn said, patting Joe's shoulder with his free arm. "Just calm down."

"Jeff, maybe you should just get up to your room," Steve said softly, seeing the anger on Joe's face. "Joe might calm down with you gone."

"Yeah, I'm really concerned about him calming down," Jeff growled, sarcastically. He did, however, turn away and head for the elevator to go up to his room.

Joe jerked his arms free and headed for the elevator after the doors dinged and closed.

"Joe," Matt called warningly, worried that he and Shawn should follow him.

"I'm just going to my room," Joe called back without even a glance over his shoulder. "I'm not going after him. If I was, he'd be dead. And I really don't feel up to a murder trial."

With that, Joe stepped onto the elevator when it opened, and smirked at his co-workers till the doors closed.

}i{}i{}i{}i{

Seattle, Washington

Ella hurriedly placed her sheet music back into her Opera Workshop binder and then shoved the binder into her backpack. She was about to lift the bag up when she heard someone call out to her—or rather, called out to her alter-ego as Ella came to refer to "Claire Jones".

Ella had stayed hidden for a year, to make sure she and her daughter, Miracle, were safe.

Growing worried for their friend and hating for her to stay secluded, Jolene and Rick encouraged her to find a job she would enjoy or to go to college. Secretly she was dying to have a semblance of a normal life, but felt nervous about leaving Miracle at a daycare. Jolene and Rick were quick to offer babysitting Miracle. After some persuading they convinced her to let them help her.

Soon, Ella was working for an entertainment agency which specialized in booking celebrity impersonators for parties. After a year, she still enjoyed the job, but felt she should do something more. So, she got her GED under her new name, took all the required exams, and tried applying to the University of Washington. She thought getting accepted was most likely laughable since she only had a GED to show in place of a diploma. However, her ACT and SAT scores were extremely good, and she was surprised to find a letter in her mail box a couple months later with an appointment time for her to have an interview. The letter made it clear the admissions office was still only considering her because of the fact she only had a GED. But they were impressed with her ACT and SAT scores, so they wanted to find out a little more about her in order to make a fair decision.

She went for the interview, and explained that she had some musical training, and she wished to enroll in the music program. She informed the admissions counselor that she'd be happy to take any kind of musical exam necessary and she'd also be willing to audition before the opera director. And so they arranged for it to be done.

She received another letter two weeks later, stating she had been accepted. And for the next three years she worked gradually at earning a bachelor of music degree in vocal performance.

"Claire?"

Ella aborted her thoughts of the past and shot her gaze upward to her opera instructor's face. He'd obviously been talking to her. "I'm sorry, Dr. Jennings. What were you saying?"

"I said, I see you've not signed up to audition for La Traviata. Why," the instructor asked, sitting on the edge of his desk in the corner of the large choral room.

She concentrated on zipping and unzipping her backpack nervously, and shrugged slightly. "I just don't really think I can."

"What do you mean," Dr. Jennings asked, his forehead creasing with confusion. "You've been training in opera for several years now. You're going to graduate in a little more than a month, and you can't perform an opera?"

"Well," Ella started, "I just… I have my final exam coming up. I have four pieces I have to perform in front of an audience, and I want them to be perfect. Not to mention I'm a single mom. I don't think I have the time to take on an actual role in a full-fledged opera."

"Claire, you can do this," the instructor coaxed. "I know you can. You already have those four pieces perfect. I've heard you practicing as well as when you sing them in front of me for your vocal lessons."

Ella just stared for a moment, deep in thought. "I don't know." The idea was tempting. But it would mean Jolene and Rick having to baby sit Miracle a lot more. And while they seem to enjoy having her over, I hate to ask them to alter their schedules to help me out.

"Claire, I want you to play the role of Violetta. It's a soprano role and there are only two seniors who are sopranos. You're the better one."

"But, there are several sophomores or juniors to choose from, "Ella objected. "I mean, they're younger and so their voices would probably be stronger-"

"No, Claire. You talk like you're ancient. You're what, twenty-nine?"

"Th-thirty," Ella stammered, struggling to not let slip that she was actually two years younger than "Claire Jones".

"So there. I was really close," he stepped right in front of Ella. "Claire, your voice is what I'm looking for. I want you to audition of course, to make sure the music meshes well with your voice, but if it goes anything the way I'm imagining, it will be absolutely perfect."

"But what if my final pieces suffer because I'm learning all these new pieces?"

"We'll get you an understudy. Make me a deal. Try out, and if it sounds good, you get to be Violetta. Then give it just two weeks, and see how it goes. If it's too much of a load for you, we'll get your understudy to take over."

Ella nodded and gave in, "Okay. I'll try."

"Good. And I know you can do this. You were born to sing, Claire."

She looked up at him and smiled for the first time in a long time. "Thank you."

"Thank you," Dr. Jennings returned. "You just took some stress off my shoulders."

"And you just added some to mine," she joked, lifting her backpack onto her shoulders. She glanced at her watch. "Well, I'd better go. I'm going to be late for a booking."

The instructor nodded. "Okay. But take care of that voice. Don't damage it."

"I won't," Ella said, heading for the door. "And I'll drink plenty of water and hot tea. Bye, Dr. Jennings."

"Bye, Claire."

With that, Ella turned and headed out of the classroom, and took the side exit from the Fine Arts building. She jogged to her car parked a block away, and headed to her house to get into full costume for her next job. She'd be lucky to have a bite of lunch before she had to leave for the Quinceanera she had to perform at.

As Selena Quintanilla-Perez, no less.

She loved the late singer, and her music too. But being a fair-skinned woman with blue eyes and curly hair made the role a challenge. Not to mention, she was not quite as curvy as Selena.

"Oh, well," Ella thought out loud. "Have fun with it, and the kids will have fun too."

}i{}i{}i{}i{

"¡Feliz cumpleaños a Sophie!

¡Feliz cumpleaños a ti!"

Ella finished singing "Happy Birthday" to the newly turned fifteen-year-old who had—according to Latin culture—left her childhood behind and became a woman. She brushed some strands of the long black "Selena" wig out of her temporary brown eyes, and accepted the glass of champagne that was passed to her. Then everyone raised their glasses and toasted the young woman before them.

Ella eyed the young girl and couldn't help letting her mind wander.

It's hard to believe I was only three years older than she is, when I married Joe—when I got pregnant.

She couldn't believe ten years had passed, and that her little girl was already nine years old. Ella smiled thinking about how beautiful she was already. Miracle had pale skin like Ella but with Joe's olive tone rather than her mother's peach hue, and she had Joe's ebony-colored eyes. Her hair was long, black—as black as Joe's—and full of waves like Ella's.

Ella shook her head, realizing she needed to focus on the party. She fought off a surge of sadness at thinking of Joe, and forced a smile to her face. She raised both her glass and microphone and, feeling compelled to speak, gave the girl a small speech in Spanish, seeing as the family did not speak English. Luckily, Ella had excelled in Spanish during high school as well as her early college years.

"Abrigue sus años adolescentes. Van más rápido que puede darse cuenta de. Puédale disfruta de cada y cada uno de ellos."

Essentially, Ella told the girl to cherish her teenage years because they go faster than one can imagine. She added that she hoped the girl enjoyed each and every one of those years. With that, she saluted the girl with her glass and said, "Salud." Then she took a sip of the fruity champagne to seal the toast. She watched Sophie smile happily as she received numerous hugs from friends and family. The occasion was such a light, uplifting one full of laughter and happiness.

To Ella's surprise, Sophie approached her next and latched onto her, hugging her closely.

"Gracias tanto. Canta tan hermosamente. Como el Selena verdadero. Estoy contento que fue una parte de mi quinceanera."

Ella smiled down at the girl and returned the hug, blinking back happy tears. Sophie had told her she sang like the real Selena, and she was glad Ella had been a part of her quinceanera. The girl was so appreciative it touched Ella deeply.

"Entonces sea yo, Sophie. Ha sido un hermoso partido."

She let the teenager know she was also glad to be a part of the beautiful party, and hugged her again. Then she had to say her goodbyes, and receive her pay for the time she spent entertaining. After loading up her sound equipment, she arrived at her home about a half hour later and went inside, opting to leave her equipment inside her black Chevy Tahoe.

Knowing Miracle was being picked up from school and babysat by Jolene for the evening, Ella felt free to take her time in heating up a slice of pizza. As the food heated, she pulled off her wig and headed upstairs to the spare bedroom where she kept all her costumes and wigs. Placing the wig on its wig head, she gave it a gentle brushing and then placed a plastic bag over it to keep it protected. She knew she had three hours till her next booking, but she couldn't remember the details about her last job of the day. She knew it was Christina Aguilera, but her boss had given her a sheet of notes regarding the party.

Grabbing her booking binder, she looked over the paper and immediately rolled her eyes.

The booking was made only a week before.

"That's strange," she thought out loud. "Bookings usually have to be made at least a month in advance."

She went downstairs to her foyer and grabbed her purse, pulling her cell phone out. She quickly called her boss to find out why the booking had been made so recently.

"Royal Talent Entertainment Agency…This is Lyle, how may I help you?"

"Lyle, it's Claire…This booking I have tonight at 10:15-"

"The Christina Aguilera gig?"

"Yes. Why was the booking allowed? I mean, it was only booked a week ago."

"They offered an exorbitant amount of money for you to perform as Christina for tonight."

"Really?" At first Ella was flattered, but she quickly became suspicious. "Okay, and…" she scanned over the various notes left for her. "I have to perform 'Dirrty', right down to dressing in the panties and chaps?" Now, she was thoroughly disgusted. "What is this, Lyle? No one has ever told me how to do my job right down to what I wear. I can't go parading around in my underwear! I'm a singer and impersonator for crying out loud!" She took a breath and continued her rant. "Lyle, they even provided a DVD of 'Dirrty's music video so I can copy exactly what she wears! It's just gross!"

"Look, Claire. You have to do the gig. They paid the money up front, and they are expecting you to do what's on that note sheet."

"And what if I just quit? This goes against my morals, Lyle. I don't have to do this, you know. I can afford to take the time to find another job."

"We have a contract, and if you do quit, I'll sue you for breach of contract."

Ella halted. He was right. She still had two months left on her deal with the agency.

"And you wouldn't dare give me a break would you? After the years of hard work I've put in for you, you can't cut me a little slack?"

"Look, it's just a bachelor party. They guys just want to see a pretty girl get up and sing some provocative songs and dance around a little. And the pay is big."

"I don't care about the pay," Ella hissed. "I care about doing things that won't ruin my reputation! What if Miracle saw me-"

"Well I care about the pay! Now, you are doing this! If I hear of you pulling a no-show, you're in big trouble!"

The phone clicked in her ear.

Ella groaned and tossed her phone aside, "Ugh! I'm in no way going to be signing another contract with that jerk!" She suddenly wished she had recorded the phone conversation with Lyle for her own personal records. Quickly she popped in the DVD and made mental notes of Christina's mannerisms and a few of the dance moves to use. Then she wrote a list of what she would need for a costume.

She quickly ate her slice of pizza and then spent the next hour fixing herself up as the vivacious Gwen Stefani for her six o'clock booking. After she finished with her wig and makeup, she began going over what songs to perform, and doing her vocal warm-ups. By the time she was done with her preparations, it was time to leave for the birthday bash. Grabbing a bottle of water, she then hurried to her car and left for the party.

}i{}i{}i{}i{

"Ease up, Joe! Ease up," Shawn Hernandez managed to choke out as Joe strengthened his hold on a rear naked choke.

"Suck it up," Joe growled in return, and tightened his hold even more. In the next instant, the large Mexican wrestler was tapping the canvas frantically as the fans cheered.

The bell rang at the referee's command, and then Joe stood to his feet, ready for his next—and last—opponent for the evening.

As a result of Joe's comments about Ella, Jeff had become so angry that he uncharacteristically made a hasty decision. Wanting to make Joe's night rough on him, he set the Samoan up for a gauntlet match in which he faced Matt Morgan, Kurt Angle, then Hernandez, and finally…Jeff, himself.

The veteran's music started and Jeff charged down the ramp, purposefully headed for the ring. He saw the glare on Joe's face and knew the match would not be an easy one in the least.

As one of the company's top heels, Joe was scripted to win, but Jeff vowed he would not make it a simple win for his friend.

For the two wrestlers, this particular match was about retribution, not entertainment value. Both men held a lot of anger, and Jeff knew it would turn into a full-fledged war before the match ended.

He entered the ring and stood facing Joe for only an instant before lunging into an offense of right hands, punches, and various attacks on Joe's mid-section.

Caught by surprise, Joe didn't get a start on his attack till Jeff had Irish whipped him into one of the six corners. Both men were aware of the "Joe's Gonna Kill You" chant, as the larger wrestler slammed Jeff with his hardest punches, and finally took him down to the canvas.

Jeff tried to intercept him by grabbing for his throat, but Joe pinned his arms down to his sides and proceeded to give his boss a very hard head-butt.

Jeff cried out and felt blood running down his forehead. Upon glancing up at Joe, he saw that the Samoan was also busted open. He looked into his black eyes and was surprised when he didn't see anger.

He saw pain. And it wasn't physical pain he detected. It hit Jeff like a ton of bricks. He realized that Joe was angry at himself. He blamed himself for Ella's death. His hostility over the past decade had not been due to blaming everyone around him as Jeff had once thought. Joe was instead taking his self-loathing out on his opponents.

"Joe…" he muttered, wrenching his arms free. He shot his fist into Joe's mouth to buy him a few seconds. "This doesn't have to go down like this."

Joe grabbed Jeff's throat and began slamming Jeff's head against the canvas.

"Joe! Listen! It wasn't your fault!"

Joe halted his attack and just stared at Jeff.

"Put your choke hold on me. I'll tap out, and we can talk," Jeff whispered.

Glaring, Joe did as he said and grabbed Jeff holding him firmly in his signature submission maneuver. Jeff pretended to put up a struggle for a few seconds—for the crowd's benefit—and then tapped out as Hernandez had done only minutes before.

Again the bell rang, and the referee took Joe's hand, raising it and signifying Joe was the winner of the gauntlet.

Joe didn't wait for Jeff, he just ducked under the ropes and stomped backstage.

Why do I get the feeling he could care less about talking, Jeff thought, also ducking under the ropes. He headed back up the ramp and hurried past the curtain. Once he was in the hallway, he saw Joe walking down the hall. He entered his dressing room and slammed the door.

"How will I ever get through to him," Jeff wondered out loud.

"I'd say wait him out," AJ suggested, having heard Jeff's frustrated words as he approached the veteran.

"I'd say that too, if I hadn't already waited ten years," Jeff returned, casting a weary glance at AJ. "But maybe a little more waiting is in order."

}i{}i{}i{}i{

The Gwen Stefani gig went a lot easier than Ella expected. She had to keep her energy up, of course, since Gwen was known for her bouncy stage-presence, but all in all, the party went well. The kids, teenagers and adults all seemed to enjoy the songs she performed, and a plus was—since she needed to shop for her Christina gig—she got to leave a lot sooner than she did with the quinceanera.

A couple of men helped her load her sound equipment into the back of her car, and she hurried to the mall to pick up some lingerie.

"There's no way I'm dancing around in some of my own underwear," she told herself. "That just feels wrong." She decided she would be trashing what she wore for the bachelor party later that night. Quickly, she looked at the list of items she needed and randomly grabbed a pair of red panties and matching bra, not really caring if the set was what the guys would like or not. Then groaning with dismay, she saw "chaps" written down on the list, and realized she might have to enter an adult store.

"Oh, no. How am I going to do this?"

Shaking her head she forced herself to focus. Reading the rest of the list, she noted she had the blond wig covered, but she would need to get some black clip-in extensions, and she already had a pair of black flat-heeled boots which would work fine under the chaps.

"Almost done," she whispered, heading for the cashier's desk. Once her lingerie was paid for, she reluctantly headed for Spencer's, an adult novelty store. She quickly searched and was successful in finding a pair of chaps that would work. She also grabbed a can of spray tan which would wash off with her next shower, and she found a package of brunette clip-in extensions for her wig as well. Her face flaming red, she hurried to the check-out counter and paid for her items. Luckily, the cashier seemed to think nothing of the chaps.

He's probably used to selling stuff like this all the time, she thought gratefully.

Less than an hour later, she was back at her home, applying the spray tan to allow it time to dry, and then she was planning out her makeup.

"Thank goodness Jolene and Rick are babysitting," she thought aloud. "I'd die if my daughter saw me looking like this."

Upon removing her red lipstick, she discovered she could make her makeup similar to Christina's simply by applying more eyeliner and smudging it into a thick smoky eye. Applying some shiny gloss to her lips, her makeup was complete. Then she grabbed one of her long blond wigs, and began hastily clipping black hair throughout the blond locks.

"It's not like it needs to look perfect," she muttered. "Christina really did look 'dirty' in that video!" she added inwardly. "How do I get myself into these messes?"

She pulled on the "clothes" next and her jaw dropped when she looked at herself in the mirror.

"I can't wear this. I just can't!" Her mind raced as tears of frustration threatened to pour. "I have to do something." She ran for her closet and ransacked the large area for anything which might help mask the horrid costume. "I'd be more covered in a HOOTERS outfit for crying out loud," she nearly screamed in anger. Her eyes fell on a pair of red hot pants. They were still extremely revealing, but were a far cry more decent than what she had on. "They can just deal with it," she growled, pulling off the chaps so she could put on the less revealing garment. Once she had the matter settled, she tugged on her pair of black boots, and then looked at herself in the mirror again.

"I'm never going to live this down."

She went downstairs then and began her vocal warm-ups for the second time that evening.

In the next hour, she finished getting ready and grabbed a long black coat which covered her almost completely, and then drove to the address she'd been given.

Pulling into a parking space, she looked up at the building and flinched.

"No way."

At the top of the building, she saw a huge, neon sign flashing the words: "BODY SHOTS"

"A bar," Ella demanded. "Seriously?! Lyle really expects me to go into a club for a bachelor party and…" she trailed off, knowing her rant was pointless. She had to do this. Otherwise, Lyle would sue her and she'd risk her picture being on the news and in the newspapers. Fournier would be able to find her if he was still looking.

So, she gathered her nerve, stepped out of her vehicle, and tightened her coat around her slender frame, apprehensive about being seen in such rags. She stepped up to the building and was startled when the large wooden door opened suddenly and two men emerged.

"Hey, doll," one of them said, smiling at her. Obviously he was already drunk. "Are you the impersonator?"

"Seeing as I'm dressed like a floozy, yes that's me," Ella didn't even attempt to hide her disdain. I may have to be here, but I never promised to have a great attitude, she thought. Maybe that's my way out of that contract. Make customers angry till Lyle is itching to get rid of me!

The two men stood aside and let Ella walk by to enter the building. She heard the door bang shut behind her and discovered she was in a dead bar with only a handful of men. Her eyes then fell on a stage, equipped with several stripper poles. The area was lit up as if it would be in use.

Yet there are no strippers here, Ella thought in dread. The hair on the back of her neck stood on end. Something isn't right here.

She felt her coat being removed and she had to fight the urge to yank it back around her.

Stay calm, and just play along, she thought to herself. I need to make them keep their guard down and catch them by surprise so I can get out of here. Screw Lyle and his contract.

"So, am I early or something," Ella asked, crossing her arms across her chest, hoping to hide some of her cleavage. When the action seemed to exacerbate the problem instead, she lowered her arms to her sides.

"Nope, why," asked one of the other men.

"Well, I was told my gig was for a bachelor party," Ella answered. "And the club appears closed too. What's going on?"

"Jim here owns this joint," a third man said, slapping a younger one on the back. "It's just us for the party."

"Five men? Not much of a party if you ask me," Ella replied. "This is awfully expensive for just a small group of guys. Are you sure you want to go through with my services?"

The men all laughed, and one of them began walking around Ella in a small circle, looking at her from top to bottom, and from every angle. He reminded her of a wolf stalking and closing in on his prey.

"Oh, we want to go through with your services all right," one of the other men guffawed.

"Please, stop," Ella tried to sound firm. "I'm a singer—an…an impersonator. I don't strip or anything."

"Well that's fine," the man circling her said, and grabbed hold of her wrists. "We can take care of that for you." He looked down as Ella gasped, and took note of her attire. "You didn't wear only panties. We didn't ask for those boy-short things." Ella screamed as he reached down and ripped both the chaps and her hot pants from her body. Now she was simply clad in her matching bra and panty set and boots. He latched onto her and grasped her hips.

"Let go of me!"

Ella screamed in a mixture of fear and rage as she was slammed up against one of the stripper poles and pinned in place by his strong body. The harsh cold metal dug into her back and the man wasn't helping matters as he pressed against her.

"Stay still," he commanded, as his hands roamed over her hips.

Without thinking her actions through, Ella shot her knee upward and rammed it into the man's groin.

He groaned in pain and instantly fell to his knees.

Ella lunged forward and headed for the door. Luckily, what with the men all being drunk, they were slow to react. Their incompetence bought her the time she desperately needed. She quickly reached the entrance and yanked on the door.

It didn't budge.

"No!"

Ella tried it again, this time pushing on it.

It still didn't move.

"Let me out," she screamed in a panic, pounding on the door. She spun around to find the drunk men all stumbling toward her, just like a bunch of creepy zombies from Night of the Living Dead.

She immediately took note of her surroundings and saw the huge window only a few feet away. Grabbing up a chair, she bashed it against the window.

Nothing.

"Come on," she yelled in frustration, slamming the chair against the window again.

This time, the window shattered into millions of pieces and fragments. Before the men could reach her, she dove out the broken window, trying not to cut herself.

Relieved to be back outside, she didn't watch where she was going as she ran. In the next instant she bumped into what she thought must be a wall. But then she felt hands grab her arms and steady her. She screamed at the contact and looked up at either her attacker, or her would-be rescuer. She could not make out his face in the darkness in order to determine if he was friend or foe. So, she decided to test him and find out.

"Please! Help me!"