Hello all, this is the full-length second instalment of Pocket Rocket. It takes place in July 2015, two years on from the events of Pocket Rocket and seven months on from the Hopes and Fears one-shot. I'll do my best to make it followable for those who haven't read either of the previous stories in the series, but some things are bound to need the context of those two fics. Preston in the title refers to Wade's home town in England, where all the main characters will find themselves on the same weekend for various reasons. Hope you enjoy. The feedback I had for Pocket Rocket was just wonderful and I hope this will be the same. Rest assured you will be thanked very much :)
"You trite, sappy bastard!" AJ giggled as she looked up from her phone.
"What?" Wade asked, although he had a fairly good idea what she would be referring to. A glance at the screen confirmed his suspicions.
"'Breakfast in bed with my gorgeous wife. No better way to start the day atWWEAJLee #lifeisgood.'" AJ read aloud, then broke into another hectoring giggle. Wade rolled his eyes, though he'd long grown to expect such a reaction to his displays of public affection.
"You know, 99% of women would be over the moon to read that. Why did I have to marry the one woman on Earth who laughs in my face every time I tell the world how I feel about her?" he lamented, although not remotely put out in actuality. The fact AJ wasn't like 99% of women was precisely why he married her in the first place. She loved nothing more than to playfully mock him, so providing her with yet more opportunity to was just about the most romantic thing he could do regardless.
"I am over the moon. Your reward snog is coming, don't worry. I just want to take the piss out of you a bit more first," she chirped. Her use of British vernacular never ceased to charm and amuse him, and his air of feigned disgruntlement was pierced by an involuntary grin.
"Naturally," he smirked.
"Let's see if you've got the usual stock replies..." she went on, eagerly navigating her way down the page with her index finger.
"...Teenage boy saying something to the effect of 'damn you're lucky bro. AJ's a babe': Check! Teenage girl saying something to the effect of 'wish i was the 1 wakin up wiv u. So jelly of AJ LOL': Check! You're doing well to still get those kind of comments, I thought the receding hairline and the grey bits in your beard would put pay to it..." she braced herself for the inevitable prod in the ribs this would surely induce, and her husband duly obliged.
"...Someone not using their real name or picture saying something I'd feel dirty reading out loud, even to you: Check! Blocking them pre-emptively in case they turn their attentions to me... Geez, I'm gonna have to retweet this now so I don't look like a cold-hearted bitch, aren't I?" she said with a groan, throwing her head back.
"I'll let you add your own snarky comment to it if you like," Wade answered, clutching her fondly at the wrist.
"I was going to do that anyway, blessing from you or not," she shrugged.
"You're a real prick sometimes, you know that?" Wade chortled.
"You know I mean well, Wadey. You know it's the one day in seven we get to do this that makes the other six worthwhile," she said, her features softening. This abrupt sincerity caught him off guard and he reflexively kissed her on the forehead. She said the sweetest things... eventually.
Wade's WWE contract had been allowed to expire back in February. It was a huge blow both to him personally and he and AJ's relationship, but at least the months upon months of being booked as a complete afterthought gave them forewarning that he wasn't long for that world. He now busied himself with a mish-mash of independent dates, guest slots on various wrestling-related media outlets and running his own blog, but most of his time was spent in an empty house waiting, pining, praying that AJ was safe wherever she was, and that becoming accustomed to life without him would not serve to put a spanner in the works of their marriage as it had with so many of their colleagues.
Happily, so far that had proved not at all to be the case. Their time together was so precious, and the time without each other so painful that the whole experience had served to remind them just what a special thing they had. Each time Wade thought he couldn't love her more than he already did, he was proven wrong when she stepped through that front door and back into his realm.
This week carried an added bonus; the WWE had arrived in their back yard for the week, and tonight Raw would emanate from just a handful of miles away at Tampa's Times Forum, meaning AJ and Wade could spend the night in their own bed and make the short trip to the arena together. That was not the only reason tonight would be significant. The show would also see the commencement of a storyline AJ herself had pitched, and to her surprise and jubilation had been green-lighted by the Creative department, almost to the letter of her initial plan.
AJ's passion for her craft had never faded throughout her six years with the company, but the prospect of embarking upon this program had her feeling like it was her first week on the job all over again; extremely nervous and extremely excited. The date she and Wade had agreed for her retirement was now just two years away. She still agreed wholeheartedly with the idea, though she'd initially planned to stick around for literally as long as the company would have her. Her priorities had changed markedly since her early days, and looking after her body and ensuring she could live a long, happy life with this wonderful man had taken precedence.
The prospect still terrified her. WWE had been her home-from-home for the majority of her adult life, how on Earth could she satisfactorily spend her days without it? She had projects in mind; finally writing her own comic book, maybe getting to work on an autobiography, most excitingly of all she and Wade had bandied around the idea of opening their own wrestling school or even a small promotion if money allowed. She just hoped it would be enough to fill the void in her life when it came down to it.
One thing was for certain, she wanted to bow out knowing she'd left the Divas division in rude health. She wanted to help its younger talents break through and achieve the popularity and acclaim needed to take hold of the baton she and her contemporaries were now almost ready to pass on. And that was precisely the purpose of this storyline.
"Mind helping me run through this script a few times, and by a few I mean fifty, before we head to the arena?" AJ asked.
"...You know how it is, if we don't knock this sucker out of the park first time out there's every chance someone in the back will get cold feet and the whole thing'll get shelved or changed beyond recognition."
"Sure," Wade agreed and watched on, his heart thoroughly warmed as she eagerly gathered up the papers from her bedside table, lighting up with glee and clapping her hands together triumphantly as she read over them again.
"You're fucking adorable," he smiled, draping his arm around her and allowing her to snuggle into his side.
"Hence why I get away with being a prick, right?" she replied with a wink.
"...Anyway, I'll give you the copy, keep it away from me and we'll see how much I've remembered. Oh, and you be Alexa."
"Wouldn't it make more sense for me to be Paige? My Norwich accent's a lot better than my... wherever the fuck in this godforsaken country she's from," Wade fired back.
"Paige doesn't speak, she just lurks in the background staring at me... I know, Nacho can be Paige," AJ piped up, pointing in the direction of the tiny dog sat up in his basket at the corner of the room, who pricked up his ears at the sound of his name.
"Right, here goes then..." Wade said, and inhaled ready to deliver his first line.
"No, this won't work..." AJ interjected suddenly.
"...I need to be able to visualise it properly. Tell you what, I'll grab you some eyeliner and some lipstick from my make-up bag. I've still got that blonde wig from Halloween, you can wear that. Now what should we use for breasts? Coconuts would be flattering her, balled up tissues would be doing her a disservice... any ideas?"
"No amount of puppy dog eyes and giggling will get me to agree to that."
NOTE: The italic lines of dialogue in this scene are the ones the girls are speaking as a part of the segment they are filming, just to avoid any confusion
"Ladies and gentlemen please welcome my guest at this time, Alexa Bliss. Now, Alexa, tonight sees you make you debut on Monday Night Raw..."
AJ waited pensively in the wings for her cue, her hand clamped tightly around Wade's for luck. The segment would see her mock and belittle the Diva roster's latest addition, Alexa Bliss, a diminutive and absurdly photogenic blonde babyface for whom both management and AJ herself had high hopes. Thus would commence a vendetta carried out against the wide-eyed rookie by the bitter and twisted veteran. All the while, unbeknownst to either of them, Paige watched on in complete thrall at AJ's audacity and tactlessness; the beginning of a story-within-a-story where the Englishwoman desperately tried to gain AJ's favour by emulating her 'crazy' antics.
The final twist would see Alexa give in to AJ's campaign to beat the innocence out of her, joining her in ganging up on the hapless Paige, completing a double turn and, AJ hoped, leaving both young talents with the requisite momentum and overness to firmly establish themselves. She'd discussed it at length with both of them and was certain they had the ability and vision to pull it off, she just hoped she didn't let them down.
"...You'll be facing Naomi in just a matter of moments. How are you feeling going into your first match?" Renee went on.
"Renee, I am SO excited. This has been my dream for so long, I can't believe I..." Alexa began to babble.
AJ exhaled heavily, counted to three and stepped into view, announcing her arrival with a loud wretching noise.
"Sorry to interrupt debutpromo . exe, but I thought it was time someone gave you a reality check on what it's REALLY like to be a woman around here. Renee can't tell you, she's not a real Diva, her job involves nothing more than gormlessly pointing a microphone at people and wearing unflattering dresses," the Canadian broadcaster scowled, fixed to retort, then thought better of it and made her exit. Executed like a pro, as was always the case with Renee.
"You see, Alexa, I was once like you; bouncy, bubbly, just happy to be on the team, willing to learn what it took to be 'smart, sexy and powerful' and all that corporate nonsense but you know what? Playing their games got me nowhere. Trying to be nice got me screwed over time and time and time again. So what did I do? I took control, I played by my own rules, I stopped caring what people thought of me, and look at me now: A three-time Divas champion, five-time Slammy award winner, a former General Manager of Raw, my place in the Hall of Fame all-but-guaranteed, a LIVING LEGEND. And..."
"I'm sorry are you still talking?" Alexa interjected disinterestedly.
"...How did you win all those titles, by boring everyone into submission? Tonight is where I begin writing MY chapter in WWE history and has-beens... shouldn't be giving advice to gonna-be's."
At this AJ made with the crazy; eyes burning and twitching with indignation, shoulders tensing, mouth scowling.
"I've carried this division on my back for nearly half a decade, I'm the reason a five-foot, hundred-pound girl like you can even get INTO this business. You LISTEN to me when I speak to you!" she raged, her voice slipping into her trademark crack-laden bellow.
"Um... got a match to get to, and you're in the way," Alexa murmured, pushing AJ casually aside and walking out of the interview area. After initially looking as if she would hold her nerve and walk the other way, AJ darted up behind the rookie and blindsided her with Renee's discarded microphone, a bump Alexa took exceptionally well; AJ made a mental note to congratulate her as soon as they were done. She then went to hurl Alexa back first into the metal-frame structure that made up the set, only for her foe to put on the brakes at the last minute, sending AJ careering back-first into the steel, which she did with her usual gusto.
However, as she made contact with the cold, hard frame, it became clear she had been extremely over-zealous, and misjudged her positioning somewhat. Where she expected there to be thin air lay in fact one of the retaining bars of the structure. The back of her neck thundered straight into it, the force causing her to flop down onto her front. Instantly she knew something was amiss, but fortunately all the final seconds of the scene required her to do were to glower in Alexa's wake from the floor and she was done for the night.
When the director finally yelled 'cut', instead of revelling in the satisfaction of a job well done, AJ instead found herself frantically trying to summon the will to get to her feet.
"God, are you OK, April?" Alexa crouched down beside her, and it was at this point AJ realised her vision was extremely unfocused and her hearing muffled and tunnel-like. It was a sensation she'd experienced countless times before in the ring, but on a crowded corridor with so many people milling around her it was ten times as disorienting. She knew it would clear eventually but the seconds or minutes until it did would be uncomfortable to say the least.
"You didn't need to hit it so hard..." Alexa continued with a nervous laugh.
"...I didn't stop too early, did I?"
"No... no, you were great, really great," AJ managed to slur. Even in her haze the imperative to assure the girl she was in no way to blame was foremost in her thinking.
"Need a hand getting up?" a male voice, presumably one of the camera crew, offered. Still unable to clearly view her surroundings, AJ held out her own hand in the general direction of the voice, hoping he would do the rest.
As she pushed to her feet and attempted to bring her neck onto an even keel it hit her. A vicious stabbing, ungodly rush of pain, the like of which she'd never experienced, even with the myriad of issues she'd had with this part of her body since Alicia's frenzied assault on her two years ago. What the hell was happening? Surely it couldn't have been broken, but something had to be severely, disastrous awry to instigate this agony, this unrelenting onslaught of anguish so overpowering that she had now had no awareness of what was around her whatsoever; whether she was still standing or had fallen back down, whether she was screaming aloud or just inside her head.
Then, darkness.
AJ awoke to an odd numbness where the pain once had been. She realised she was gathered tightly someone's arms; the voice was indistinct, her vision was not yet focused, only the smell of his aftershave gave it away. Thank God Wade was there, it prevented her from launching into instant panic. If this had to happen, she was glad it happened on an occasion when he could be at her side instantly. If indeed this was instantly. She had no idea how long she'd been out for, or where exactly they were, and only now was she compos mentis enough to wonder.
"Stuart..." she breathed faintly after about a minute of trying to do so.
"I'm here, sweetheart, I've got you," he responded softly, pulling her tighter against him. There was no safer, warmer place on Earth than in his embrace. His voice, combined with the gentle stroking of her hair and the lingering kiss he placed at the corner of her eye, left her improbably calm in spite of it all.
"What the hell happened?" she asked, her focus finally coming to the rest on his face. He looked like he'd seen a ghost.
"Trapped nerve. Dr Sampson sorted it," he said solemnly. Why was he being so short and morose? She'd had several trapped nerve incidents since her neck breakage. They were no fun and meant a few days of taking it easy but they were infinitely preferable to anything more severe that required longer on the sidelines.
"Oh, thank fuck for that..." she breathed. All of a sudden she felt his body begin to shake. He turned away from her, as if he couldn't bare to look.
"...What's up? I'll be fine. This has happened plenty of times before, I'll just spend the rest of the week off the road and I'll be good. We might have to reshuffle the storyline a little, but..."
"It's happened too many times before," he interrupted, his voice heavy and trembling.
"What do you mean too many?" she asked, although she had a fair idea why.
"...Listen, it's only another two years, I'm taking it easier in the ring these days anyway. I'll be fine, Stuart, I promise. I know what I'm doing."
"It's not me who said that, it's..." Wade gave the almightiest of sighs.
"...It was the doctor. You can't keep putting your neck through impacts like that or the damage could... it could be permanent... it could even kill you, April. The doc said, Stephanie and Hunter agreed and so do I... that you can't go out there and work anymore. A third surgery would be no real improvement, it could even make it worse. I'm so sorry you had to find out like this. It's over, poppet. It has to be."