Chapter 1 – Whispered Words

Kali Nemeth sat in her brothers dressing room as she was busy getting all of the photos uploaded for the WWE Magazine from the house shows over the weekend; making sure every photo of the Superstars and Divas were perfect before sending the e-mail. Kali worked for the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) as photographer. She was responsible for any and all pictures during Monday Night Raw and Friday Night Smackdown; even though Smackdown was taped Tuesday night and aired on Friday.

Her older brother also just happened to be Nicholas Nemeth –Known to the wrestling world as Dolph Ziggler. She was extremely close to her brother even though the two of them weren't close with anyone else in their family. She was watching the monitor which Nick turned on for her and she could see the back stage crew setting up the ring and barricade; her brother had been down in the gym set up in the arena as Kali was getting her cameras ready for Raw that night.

Nick walked into his dressing room and frowned as he watched his little sister. It had been five years since her attack. She'd still not said anything to anyone above a whisper. She was quiet and reserved and she didn't trust easily. Not that he could really blame her. Two years ago she'd finally gotten her smile back. For a while he was sure she never would. He walked over and kissed the top of her head. "Need any help?" Kali looked up at her brother as she smiled softly before she shook her head negatively; Nick didn't have to be told twice as he kissed the top of her head again and disappeared into the bathroom to get showered up for Raw that night.

Once Kali had finished the rest of the e-mails full of photos she stood and straightened out her jeans. She looked in the mirror and made sure her skinny jeans weren't wrinkled anywhere and adjusted her black suede knee high boots with the three inch heels on them. Her white and black long sleeve top was perfect especially since there was a chill in the arena; along with her matching scarf. Her waist length dark honey blonde hair left down as she adjusted the long scarf as she rolled her lips together. She pushed her cell phone into her back pocket as she grabbed her appointment book; usually photo shoots were scheduled during house shows on Friday Saturdays and Sundays she would do the head shots and body shots that were used for promotional ideas and signings. If the Diva or Superstar wasn't in their locker room she had a roll of tape and would tape a note to the front of the door; advising them of their appointment or to come make one with her.

Kali stopped in front of the Shields dressing room door and knocked; when no one answered she taped the note to the door. As she turned to leave she stopped in her tracks as the three giant Shield members were staring back at her. She swallowed hard as she stepped back away from them and her back pressed to the door. She could feel herself shaking slightly when the guy with the two toned hair growled at her.

Dean looked down at the girl. "What the hell are you doing by our dressing room?" Their dressing room was away from everyone else in the company. Normally anyone who was down this way was slut Divas and ring rat whores trying to get in their pants. Dean definitely didn't like anyone around them; especially whores who only wanted them for their money. He watched as the mousey girl tried to go around him and he put his arm out and stopped her as he pushed her back against the door and she squeaked out audibly. "No – no you're not going anywhere until you tell me what the fuck you're doing back here." Dean was losing his patience.

Dean was flanked by Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns all three men looked intimidating as hell and monstrous in size. They could snap anyone in half with a snap of their fingers. They had the worst backstage reputations; fighting and arguing with the other talents and actually getting into fist fights with some of the veterans that had been there for 5 plus years. To say Kali was scared would be an understatement.

She'd not had to work with them up until this point but the major photographer Frank was doing some kind of work for a friend in Europe and wouldn't be joining the WWE back on the road for quite a while, which forced Kali to step up and do all the major photos. It was no a secret that Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley preferred Kali's work over Franks so it came as no shock when Stephanie offered her Franks position with a GREAT raise in her salary.


Maybe it was fate or something, but Emilia Edwards made the decision to track the Shield down to get an interview done for the WWE Magazine; she was a travel journalist who traveled with the company. She turned the corner after getting directions from Kaitlyn and felt her aqua eyes widen at the sight. Her poor friend was being cornered by the Shield and she looked absolutely terrified. Instead of running toward them and possibly getting her head knocked off, Emilia decided to take a different approach with this. "Kali, sweetie?" She called out from behind, watching as all 3 of the Shield members immediately turned their attention away from her friend to face her. "Is everything okay here?"

What the hell was going on tonight? Where did all of these bitches come from? Roman narrowed his grey eyes at the chestnut haired woman with the blonde highlights and folded his arms in front of his massive chest, his jaw tightening. "What the fuck do you want?" He demanded, noticing Dean still hadn't let the mouse go and felt his own blood start to boil; his grey eyes locking with aqua orbs.

Emilia merely smiled at the monstrous man with the long black hair that was known as Roman Reigns and knew she couldn't act nervous around them. "My name is Emilia Edwards and I'm the writer for the WWE magazine. I was hoping I could speak with all 3 of you for a moment regarding an article I'm getting ready to do about the Shield. And the woman you are currently yelling at is the WWE's Photographer." She noticed the paper taped to the Shield's locker room door. "She's also Nick Nemeth's sister." She kept the soft smile on her face and kept her voice gentle, acting as if she was talking to someone about the weather.

Kali had never been so happy to see someone in all her life. She wasn't saying a word to any of these guys – fuck that. They might have all been good looking but she wanted no part of any of them. She watched as Emilia got closer and touched her forearm causing her to jump and look at her friend.

Dean growled. "That still doesn't explain what the fuck she's doing here." He didn't give a shit who either of these bitches were or who they were related too he didn't want sluts by their dressing room. He knew he was probably being too much of an asshole right now; too many women had broken into their dressing room and even their hotel rooms to get to the WWE's hottest group going right now.

Kali swallowed hard as she tapped the door with her index knuckle to point out the travel packets. Kali leaned over towards Emilia. "Just tell them I need to schedule a shoot with them and whenever is convenient for them is fine with me." She whispered to her friend.

Dean was getting fed the fuck up with this mousey business. "Why can she fuckin talk to you, but she can't say shit to us?"

"Because my sister doesn't talk to anyone she's terrified of." Nick's voice cut through everyone as the Shield members parted and watched as he walked through them to get to Kali. When she hadn't returned he got worried and came to look for her. "And if you keep scaring her she's going to have a panic attack and I don't feel like taking her to the hospital tonight so could you three back the fuck off?" Nick's arm automatically went around her waist and he felt her lean into his side heavily. "You okay Kal?" When she nodded he sighed with relief as he kissed the top of her head. "C'mon let's get back to the room; thanks Emilia." He thanked the woman for trying to smooth things over with the three asshats from the Shield. But he knew they were pissed off at 60 percent of the WWE roster for jumping script with them, not that he blamed them. But he wasn't about to let them go after Kali just because she didn't talk.

Emilia nodded, concern shining in her eyes for her friend. "Anytime. Just take her back to your dressing room so she can try to calm down. If either of you need me, you know my number."

Nick didn't want to leave Emilia to the wolves, so to speak, and didn't walk away with Kali yet. "Are you sure you'll be alright?" Emilia was a sweet woman and he didn't want these assholes scaring her next.

"I'll be fine, I promise. Go on, she's more important right now." Emilia shooed him away playfully, watching as her trembling friend walked away with her brother and sighed with relief. When Emilia turned around, she came face to chest with the angry Shield member known as Roman Reigns, her aqua eyes rising until grey mixed together. Emilia didn't move an inch, keeping her arms at her sides and tried like hell not to tense, but it was hard under his scrutinized stare. "Do you have a minute to discuss the article or is this a bad time?" She tried to keep the fear out of her voice and failed, thankful it wasn't shaky sounding.

"Get lost; well find you when were ready." Dean growled and watched as the journalist lady scampered off.

Seth Rollins chocolate eyes watched as Nick Nemeth carted the mousey woman off and felt his upper lip curl in a snarl. They respected Nick, which was the only reason why these two women hadn't gotten their heads knocked off. It was true, the other Superstars in the back had jumped script on them several times and most nights the three Shield members walked away with more bruises than they should have. So they always stuck together and made sure to have a locker room on the other side of the arenas, staying as far away from the rest of the Superstars as possible. It was just easier that way, not to mention they were feared, especially Dean. Being a man, Seth couldn't help tilting his head to the side and watched Kali's backside as it swayed with every trembling step she took. Perhaps he could find a way to diminish her shyness.

Roman chuckled as he patted the two-tone haired man's back. "Something tells me even if you had big brother's approval you still wouldn't be getting close to that hot jean covered ass. I think we pretty much petrified her." Roman grabbed his vest. As all three of them took off to see the seamstresses.


Kali had calmed considerable by the time they got back to Nick's dressing room. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yea." She answered in a whisper. "I'm good. I promise."

"I'm really sorry about those guys. They aren't the happiest right now. Orton and Wight keep jumping script as a way to get in some extra shots with them in the ring. WrestleMania is going to possibly be bloody for them." Nick sighed heavily. "I can always go back and kick their asses if you'd like me too."

Kali couldn't help as she stifled a laugh and smiled. Her big brother - ever the protective bodyguard. "No, it's okay." She felt him squeeze her sides which he knew were ticklish and she couldn't help as she shrieked out at his actions. He hugged her to him. "Protective momma bear." She teased quietly.

Nick growled as he shook his head before releasing her and watched as she got started on loading her appointments into her laptop.


Seth stood there in the seamstress's area with Roman and couldn't help thinking back to the mouse girl, Kali. When Jacobi Martin –Phil Brooks girlfriend- turned to him and asked him a few questions regarding their ring attire, Seth answered them. "Now I have a question for you." His deep voice resonated around the room.

"What is it?" Jacobi asked softly as she fixed a seam on Seth's tactic vest.

Seth leaned against her table and crossed his arms over his chest. "What's with Nick's sister; the mouse?"

"I honestly don't know. We've all been friends for a couple months, but I really don't know that much about her; she doesn't talk about herself that much." She clipped the end of the thread and searched for the other seam she needed to fix.

Loralie smiled softly as she was fixing Dean vest. "She'd been like that for a while. She doesn't talk much and when she does; it's nothing above a whisper."

Dean wasn't buying it as he growled. "How can you be friends with a fuckin mute and not know why the fuck she's quiet? Aren't you curious to know what's going on with your friend?" Dean scoffed. "I don't know about you sweetheart but when I meet new people I want to know them inside and out before I get myself in trouble." He hissed out.

Loralie stood up as her emerald eyes locked with his blue/grey. "Do not be rude to me Dean Ambrose or you can sew your own vest. I didn't wear it and put rips in it. And if I find out your scaring Kali on purpose I'll pluck your eyeballs out with my needle." The tiny Seamstress threatened as she waved her sewing needle around in Dean's face. She wouldn't take any shit off him; no matter how good he smelled or hot he was. Jesus Christ the man's arms would stop growing. He came to her at least once a week to fix the arm holes of his vest so they were constricting. She never wanted to be a tactic vest as bad as she did right now.

Dean growled taking a step towards the hot little seamstress; he welcomed the pain is pleasure motto especially if it was her. Roman put his hand on Dean's chest. "Relax man. She's telling the truth." Roman had a weird sixth sense about him. If he looked in someone's eyes he could tell if they were lying or telling the truth. And she was DEFINITELY telling the truth. "I'm running to the cafeteria to get some water so we can get ready for the start of Raw." His grey eyes moved to his two tone haired friend. "Seth you want to come with and give the mouth time to battle his demons alone?"

"Yeah sure, we'll be back." He said, seeing Dean's eyes were glued to the raven haired woman and shook his head, vacating with Roman. He was curious about the mouse, stroking his beard thoughtfully. Seth would never get her fearful eyes out of his mind and knew they'd haunt him for a long time to come. He honestly didn't mean to scare her, but they had no idea who to trust in this company. They were the new blood – the rookies – and had been punched on a little too much for all 3 of their liking.


One of Kali's friends, Stephen Farrelly –known as Sheamus to the WWE world- came walking through Nick's locker room after knocking, a smile on his face. "Hey lass, do you have a second? I have a problem with me photo shoot time." He had a few days off and wanted to fly out earlier than what she scheduled him. "If this is a bad time, I can come back later."

Kali smiled softly. "What's wrong Stephen?" He might've been a friend but her voice stayed at a steady whisper. "Did I mess up on something?" She inquired.

Stephen chuckled. "No lass, I'll be starting me vacation time in a couple of days and I wanted to see if you can get me scheduled for the shoot earlier." He watched Kali smile as she took her laptop out and looked through her appointments; within ten minutes she had his shoot rescheduled. "Lass you're a life saver. I was going to head down to the cafeteria and get me some grub. I know you want a chicken salad sandwich." He knew what to say to her to get her to agree.

Kali smiled as she nodded. "I'd love to." She shut down her laptop and placed it back in the carrying bag and made sure to leave Nick a note. She knew he trusted Stephen to watch over her and protect her. As they stepped out into the hallway he offered his right arm to her as she wrapped her left hand around his bicep and they took off to catering.

Chocolate eyes narrowed. "Hold on." Seth stated and stopped Roman as they passed by Nick Nemeth's locker room, eyes narrowing as Stephen exited. "What the fuck?" The mouse woman followed the big Irishman out and they were arm in arm. "Maybe she's not as innocent as we thought…"