Disclaimer: This is a non profit fanfiction. I do not own anything associated with the trademark WWE and am purely writing this fic out of fan-appreciation and respect for the hard work all those people put into giving us a great show each week. In other words: Please don't sue!
Author's note: Just a quick heads-up before we get started. You're going to meet both AJ Lee and April Mendez in this story respectively (Same goes for Sheamus and Stephen). I'm trying to make the distinction as clear as possible, but I thought it would be a clever move to point this out before we got started.
As always my thanks go to my amazing beta, UntilNeverDawns.
Let's get this show on the road, guys. Have fun and please show your appreciation by making the sound 'woot woot woot' and hitting the review button! Actually, I'd rather you just hit that button... ;-)
She grabbed the microphone tightly in her hands and strode out on stage. For a second she had to blink against the headlights from above, but she was a pro and quickly adjusted to the blinding lights directed on her face. Just as quickly she got over the fact that not everyone in the house was pleased to see her when he entrance music hit. In fact she was greeted by boos and cheers alike.
AJ gave them a second to take in her presence, just like those heavily breathing scarcely clad ladies that qualified as her fellow divas. Brie Bella and Naomi, who had just competed in a match and those other ones like Cameron, the other half of the Funkadactyls and Brie's sister Nikki, who were also huffy, but solely out of fake indignation. A grin spread on AJ's face. Both, as her wrestler alter ego and the person behind the character, she relished those kind of moments.
She raised the microphone to her lips with a feeling of anticipation and glee. "Sorry to interrupt you, ladies, but I was trying to keep the worst from happening. And the worst, believe me, isn't that you actually do something harmful to each other, because what you're doing can hardly be called wrestling. It's parading around in skimpy outfits," at that she threw back her black hair over her shoulder and grinned. "No, the worst that can happen to YOU out here is a broken nail or maybe split ends..." She inspected her own nails casually, waiting for the audience's reaction and that of those girls in the ring. She didn't have to wait long.
Cheers and boos from the audience and a rather uncreative mixture of insults being shouted in her direction from the ring. Pity, they didn't have a microphone like her, screeching women were truly something unattractive. Still in character, she took a deep breath and prepared to launch a new verbal assault at the other women.
"Why so upset?" she twisted a lock of her hair around her index finger and cocked her head to the side. "Did I hit a nerve there?" she laid a special emphasize on the word 'nerve', stretching its vowel like it was chewing gum. "I'm just trying to help. The sooner you realize that you have no place in this company the better. This is wrestling, not Sports Illustrated magazine. Actually...," she put her index finger against her chin pensively, "you might wanna lose a few pounds for Sports Illustrated, Nikki. Inaction doesn't become you..."
The screeches in the ring got louder. They were interrupted and ultimately drowned out by Stephanie McMahon's entrance music. AJ whipped around. The lunatic smile disappeared from her face and made room for a serious, somewhat guarded expression. The boss lady strode in and ripped the microphone from her hands unceremoniously.
"That's enough out of you, AJ," she hissed and the ladies down in the ring gloated. Some people in the audience, probably not AJ's fan club cheered. "Haven't I told you that I expect better out of you? You're the Diva's Champion. You're supposed to be a role model to little girls out there and here you go belittling and ridiculing the other women in the Diva's division every chance you get..." Stephanie paused here, allowing her words to sink in. She finally shook her head regretfully and with a hint of disgust. She really was a class act.
"I've made a decision, AJ. I can no longer stand by and watch you go on like this. I sincerely hope that my decision will help you get your temper under control and teach you some humility..." The audience and everybody else present held their breaths collectively. The pause continued. For a moment the huge sports arena was absolutely quiet. You could have heard a pin drop.
"It's a shameful thing, lost your head...," Sheamus' entrance music hit. He had been out due to an injury for months now and the crowd went wild when he first ran out on stage again, bellowing and hitting his chest. He had a maniacal glint in his eyes that could not have been entirely acting, because it looked pretty real thanks to the genuine enthusiasm he felt being back.
AJ looked around confused, as did Sheamus when he stepped next to Stephanie. In fact he was frowning when he brought his own microphone to his mouth. "You called and I came. Not that I'm not glad to be out here, lass," cue cheers from the audience, "but I've been medically cleared and itching for a match against one of those fellas back there tonight, so what's all this stuff about? Do I get me match now?"
Stephanie held up her index finger admonishingly. "I'll tell you in a second, Sheamus." Again with the dramatic pauses. She seemed to be a huge fan of those. "This is not about a match. I called you out here tonight to make an important announcement... You're going to be AJ's partner from now on."
"What?!" AJ and Sheamus asked simultaneously.
Their harshly worded protest was drowned out by the audience going absolutely crazy over that news, so all that could be seen on those huge monitors above everyone's heads was AJ and Sheamus gesticulating wildly and shouting at Stephanie who seemed to be completely unfazed by the collective onslaught of both their tempers. That in itself was quite a feat because Sheamus was towering several inches over her and royally pissed off and AJ was screaming bloody murder at her. But then again, in a situation like that it wasn't size that mattered or how loud you could raise your voice. No, it was authority, and being the boss' daughter, she had a whole lot of authority going for her.
Stephanie held up her hand calmly. The two enraged individuals in front of her continued raging and raving, but ultimately it was no use. Eventually they fell quiet in the face of Stephanie's poise that somehow bore a striking resemblance to one of those Greek statues, usually made to honour some goddess.
"There will be no arguing about this. It's final. You're going to be ringside during each other's matches and support each other." More protest, which Stephanie simply ignored shaking her head once. "See it as a challenge," she gave each of her two disgruntled employees a pointed look, "either you rip each other's throats out or you'll become best of friends. It's completely up to you." After having gazed sternly at both at AJ and Sheamus, daring them to go against her orders, she gave them one final nod and departed.
Sheanus had raised his hands, doubtlessly to argue the point that Stephanie's decision was nonsensical, but in the face of her speedy departure, he let them sink down again. He turned and stared at AJ instead - his new charge. The sized each other up for a few seconds like predators meeting in a forest clearing. The Irishman just stared blankly at AJ face, whereas the petite woman cocked her head to the side and looked up at the larger man with an unreadable expression on her face. Eventually Sheamus let out a sound of disgust. He decided he had had enough and stormed off. Shortly after, AJ followed behind but not without rolling her eyes. After all, the idea of being stuck with that Irishman didn't agree with her, but losing her job over disobeying Stephanie's orders wasn't an option either.
The camera followed her backstage. At the end of the corridor she could see Sheamus' quite massive retreating back. Her guess was that he was on the way to his locker room. She set into motion and started skipping down the corridor, the soles of her knee-high Converse screeching obnoxiously on the shining linoleum floor, which probably alerted the Celtic Warrior to her presence and only made him walk faster. "Hey, no fair!" she called out. "Wait!" And to her surprise he stopped. She saw his back quiver briefly as he was taking one long calming breath and balling his hands into fists at his sides.
When she was about one step away from him, he whipped around, his skin flushed with anger and his face set in an unattractive scowl. "Fecking stop following me, lass!" His voice was booming and created an unpleasant ringing in her ears, but she didn't flinch back, even when he continued to yell at her and his nose was as good as touching hers. "Just so we're clear about this, I'm not your mate, I'm not one of your bleedin' boy toys! As long as neither of us has a match you stay the feck away from me!" Those words were not spoken, they were practically screamed in her face. In a cartoon, his head would have been beet-red and his breath would have blown back her hair. Now there was only that funny little vein pulsing in his left temple. AJ stared at it with something akin to morbid fascination.
Finally she smiled up at him sweetly. Her smiles were not like those of other people. They were not harmless and sweet, at least not when she was in character. They were malicious and quite a bit crazed. She was smiling because the angry Irishman was scary, but nothing she couldn't handle.
"OK," she said simply and shrugged, which was sort of anticlimactic, considering all the yelling he had been doing previously. "No need to get grumpy. I just wanted to tell you that I'm glad you're back."
He gave her a stunned look, actually taking a step back, forgetting some of his anger for the time being. "You're glad I'm back?! Haven't you understood anything I just said?!"
She just beamed up at his confused face, ignoring his questions. With her free hand she caressed the championship belt over her shoulder, trying to draw confidence and calmness from the gesture. He just stared at her, asking himself whether this petite girl standing in front of him was completely nuts. Right now it sure looked like it.
"See you around," she finally said before she turned on her heels and left a speechless Sheamus standing there with a puzzled expression on his face.
"And we're off!" the cameraman exclaimed finally and lowered the lens away from Stephen's face. The puzzled expression on his face was replaced by a smile. It was one of those professional ones that didn't quite reach the eyes and destined for April who now stepped next to him again.
"Good job," he told her politely, though with some reserve. They had known each other for roughly four years, but had rarely worked together. They were acquaintances, had shared the occasional conversation during the odd bus or plane ride, but there was nothing deeper that connected them. No friendship, just superficial politeness and now he was forced to work with her, which wouldn't have been a much of a problem under normal circumstances. Now, however, he saw it as a problem, because he had just been back from months of inaction and was bursting with energy that needed to be unleashed during a proper fight and not wasted by pairing him off with that wee little lass.
Talking about the Diva's Champion, his attention was called back to April who was smiling up at him. Their height difference was almost comical, she was 5ft 2 and he was towering over her with his impressive 6ft 4. "Thanks, Steve. Same to you."
Her smile was sort of guarded. She didn't know what to think about that man standing in front of her. It wasn't that she thought he didn't like her. In fact he was always polite to her, the perfect gentleman. Unlike his in ring persona he knew how to behave, but he was always so reserved with her. Take this situation right now for example. She had no idea what he thought about being paired off with her.
A couple of days ago, at the business meeting at headquarters, he had just taken the information that they would be partners for an indefinite period of time with a solemn nod of his head. The fact that he had been very tight-lipped afterwards had her thinking that he didn't approve. Personally she had no problem working with him. She just didn't like the idea of another romance angle for her character. Seriously? First Cody Rhodes (if you could count that stupid sexist kissing contest), then Daniel Bryan, CM Punk, Kane, Dolph Ziggler and now Sheamus?! She was the Black Widow, but no nymphomaniac. She could shine on her own. She didn't need a male lead starring in the AJ Lee show.
"Soooo...," with that little world he brought her back to the present and made her blink up at him with a slightly dazed expression on her face. Her eyes were burning. She needed to get those damned contact lenses out after the show. "Guess, I see you later for Sheamus vs. Dolph Ziggler. Just make sure you're standing in the right corner," he joked good-naturedly, but sort of lamely.
April was tempted to roll her eyes, but didn't out of strategic reasons and the obvious fact that it just wasn't polite. "Sure, that would be the side of the ring where I can best reach Nick's ankles, right?" she grinned.
"Dead on," Steve grinned and turned around to mercifully end their little awkward exchange. At least it felt awkward to her. She didn't know what to say to him, much less know how to behave around him. Maybe that was because she hardly knew him. If his friends were to be believed, he was funny and a "good sort of fella", which she was yet to find out. After all she could hardly claim to know him on a more personal level. For a lack of a better term you could say they were acquaintances or colleagues. What they knew about each other stemmed from a collection of short meetings, of irrelevant conversations, so that wasn't much.
Sheamus' entrance music hit and they walked out on stage. Well, Sheamus didn't walk, he burst out on stage. AJ skipped after him and reached his side right after he had beaten his chest and emitted some sort of primal battle cry. His eyes fell on her and were filled with disapproval. AJ clasped her hands behind her back and swayed slightly to the left and right. Her behaviour was oddly reminiscent of a child wearing a new sun dress wanting to charm an adult into giving her something she wanted. Sheamus, however, didn't find her the least bit charming, only irritating and confusing. He shook his head in disgust and headed down the ramp towards the ring. AJ followed in her usual fashion, skipping after him, ruining what would have been a perfect entrance and a triumphal comeback.
He didn't hold the ring ropes open for her, but she didn't need him to. She climbed through them displaying a considerable amount of athleticism and flexibility. They both looked expectantly at the ramp and they were not disappointed, because soon Dolph Ziggler burst out on stage. He did his usual routine, posing and for the lack of a better word, showing off, before he headed in their direction with a determined expression on his face.
AJ patted her championship belt to draw some semblance of strength and reassurance from it. Only a couple of weeks ago she would have been right behind Dolph, accompanying him to the ring for support. But he had broken up with her. On live TV. And now she was here with another man. Her eyes settled on Sheamus and she threw him a creepy grin. Just like she had patted her trophy before she patted his arm and said: "You show him!"
Sheamus wanted to pull her hand away from his arm, her touch was irritating him, just like her whole presence in general, but she had already climbed out of the ring. He let out his breath in relief.
The referee soon started the match. Both wrestlers clashed in the middle of the ring, trying to determine who of them was stronger. Sheamus eventually pushed Dolph back into his corner of the ring and AJ giggled in delight. She watched on from outside the ring with her forearms on the mat and a crazed smile on her lips as the two men battled each other inside the ring.
Each brutal clothesline Sheamus delivered to Dolph made her chuckle like she had just heard a good joke. Each hit the blonde took contributed to her good mood. But eventually the tight turned and Sheamus who was the stronger, but slower between the two opponents took some punishment.
He was running at Dolph like a charging bull, but the blonde got out of the way in the last second and sent Sheamus flying over the top rope. The Irishman tried to climb back in, but was hit by a kick and stumbled back into the barricade. For a couple of seconds he hung limply from it and shook his head to get rid of the feeling of dizziness and pain the kick had created.
Eventually he got back on his feet only to be grabbed by Ziggler and slammed into the steel steps of the ring- head first. Sheamus landed on the floor writhing in pain. That's when AJ decided to check up on him and make sure Dolph wouldn't be able to capitalize on the situation. To him, she was still a walking, talking distraction whenever and wherever she appeared. And in fact Ziggler was, for a moment, so mesmerized by her presence that he forgot all about Sheamus, which bought the Irishman enough time to get back on his feet.
Instead of a "thanks", Sheamus threw her a look of disapproval when he grabbed Ziggler and jerked him into the direction of the ring. AJ had a hard time understanding how he could be so ungrateful, but she watched with great pleasure and approval as her former on-screen "boyfriend" was brutally shoved around by the angry redhead.
The fight spilled back into the ring. She remembered most of Dolph's matches very well; after all she had been ringside for a lot of them. AJ was all too familiar with his style. It was elegant and flamboyant. Sheamus' was very physical and a combination of brute force and technique. He was like a one man wrecking crew. Sweaty, sort of primal and barbaric, which left her oddly fascinated.
Currently Sheamus was working on wearing Dolph down, he had tried for a three-count numerous times now, but it seemed like there was no quit in Ziggler. After another pinfall that was interrupted by Dolph kicking out at two and a half Sheamus grew frustrated and started yelling at the referee. The blonde man got up on the meantime and stumbled back into the ropes. It seemed like he was barely able to stand on his own.
AJ saw her opening and capitalized on it. While the referee had his hands full with Sheamus, she grabbed Ziggler's ankles and pulled, which resulted in him landing on the mat face first. For some reason Sheamus, even though he had been involved in a fully-fledged shout-out, had seen her pull her nasty little trick on Dolph. He breezed in her direction, leaving a stunned referee behind. For a second she actually believed he would go for the cover, because he briefly stopped at the fallen man's side, but then he directed his blue eyes at her. They were cold as ice. She retreated a bit and her back hit the barricade when he jumped out of the ring and advanced on her. In the background the referee was starting to count while Ziggler started to stir. Not an ideal scenario.
"What have you done?!" he thundered and she backed even further into the barricade. The fans behind her were clapping her shoulders in support, but someone was pulling at her hair too. She took a step to the right to get away from Sheamus, but also from the hair pulling freak.
"I wanted to help you win," she tried to reason with him. He didn't look like he wanted to be reasoned with, however. He looked livid.
"That's not how I win. I'm a warrior. Warrior's don't cheat! You better get that into your feckin' noggin and be quick about it!" There went that vein in his forehead again.
"But...," she started, holding up her index finger.
He just glared at her and finally let out a loud, frustrated scream "Aaaaaaaaaah!" that had her and the fans behind her do a little jump in surprise. And as if on cue the referee announced: "The winner as a result of a count-out: Dolph Ziggler."
Sheamus whipped around. Dolph was looking down on them. He was swaying on his feet, but grinning. If even possible that incensed the Irishman even further. He got into AJ's face again, and that quite literally. Her body was pressed into the barricade by Sheamus' much larger and sweaty one. "You better watch it from now on, lass!" he growled and stormed off.
AJ took a stumbling step away from the barricade and adjusted her belt over her shoulder, displaying a hint of vulnerability and uneasiness with the gesture. Wow, that hadn't gone well!
Sheamus ripped open the door to Stephanie's office in the backstage area of the arena so forcefully it banged into the wall behind it. That fairly undiplomatic move got him the boss lady's attention immediately. So it was mostly unwanted attention.
"How dare you...," she started, her eyes narrowed in disapproval. The expression on her face could have sent little children running back to her mother's. It left the Celtic Warrior completely unimpressed, however.
"How dare I?!" he boomed. "You get that little witch away from me now! Or I'll snap her little neck like a twig next time she interferes with one of me matches." It was not the fact that the substitution of the letter 'w' in 'witch' by another one that appeared much earlier in the alphabet was heavily implied that enraged Stephanie, but it was much rather the comment about "snapping AJ's neck" that ventured dangerously into non PG-friendly territory.
"Shut up!" she told Sheamus simply. Her tone was icy and threatening.
"You might be my boss, but you're decision is shite," the Irishman screamed at her, unheeding of her threats or the silent warning the forbidding expression in her eyes issued.
Now Stephanie's voice lowered disproportionately to Sheamus'. It assumed an eerie, very low quality, a bit like the hiss of a snake. "Be glad that you get the chance to be back after months of inaction. Be glad that I gave you that girl at your side, because she makes your story more interesting. Be glad she gets under your skin like that because finally... after months of having to put up the cuddly Irishman next door we get to see the Celtic Warrior again. If that's what she brings out of you, you better shut up and be thankful!"
Sheamus didn't have much to say in the face of those words, Stephanie had a point, after all. His hands balled to fists at his sides, his nostrils quivered. Oh, how he would have loved to smash something into little pieces now or give someone a good thrashing. But that was not an option right now, so he tried to quench the anger within himself.
"Why are you still standing here? Get out of here and get your sorry ass down to the ring. Your partner is having a match right now!" Stephanie ordered him.
Sheamus begrudgingly set into motion. He could still feel a residual trace of that anger burning inside of him. It was still there, but he buried in order to function. He had to function if he wanted to keep his job and right now that entailed being stuck with that pesky little raven-haired lass.
A brief glance in passing-by one of those monitors told him that AJ was already down at ringside. She was getting ready to face Natalya for a non-title-shot match. He hurried down the ramp, forgoing his usual routine of posing on top of the ramp and positioned himself in her corner of the ring.
AJ threw him a questioning glance. She seemed surprised to see him. Truth be told, even he was surprised to be there. Better late than never, he reckoned. They were seconds away from the match. Her championship belt was still hanging over her shoulder. He pointed at it and made a motion with his hand, asking her to hand it to him, so he could keep it safe during the match. She actually physically recoiled. No way in hell was he going to even touch that belt, even if it was just for safe-keeping during her match. After one last pointed stare at Sheamus, she handed the belt over to the referee.
Sheamus acquitted that decision with a casual shrug of his shoulders as if he wanted to say "Fine, have it your way." Soon enough the fight started. It was dominated early on by Natalya who outmatched AJ in strength, but not in terms of technique and agility.
Sheamus stood by at ringside and observed the match between the two women with a stony face. The boss-lady had told him to suck it up, but that didn't mean he couldn't get back on AJ for what she had done to him. She had made him walk out of his first match back with the WWE a loser. Unforgivable! She would pay for that. A devilish smirk spread on his face and he started stroking his beard pensively, already concocting a revenge plan.
In the meantime Natalya had gained the upper hand. She went for the sharpshooter, making AJ look like a human pretzel as she mercilessly bent her legs back in a vise-like grip. He got up on the apron and did what was expected of him as AJ's partner. He was supposed to distract her opponent and distract her he did. He started yelling at Natalya. "Oiii, lass, you want someone to play human pretzel with? Why don't ya try me?" he wiggled his eyebrows at her suggestively.
A look of disgust flashed over Natalya's features briefly. He hadn't distracted her with his crude comment, if anything his insinuation only contributed to her growing more determined. He grinned as she applied a bit more force to the hold and made AJ cry out in pain. That was the way to go. That pesky little lass would soon know better than to mess with the Celtic Warrior again.
He climbed through the robes with a smirk on his face, his body language far from aggressive as he once again admonished Natalya to get away from his partner. "Now, Nattie, that's a bit mean, don't you think? The lass is all cryin' out in pain. Doesn't look like she likes what you're doin' to her, so me thinks it's time you stepped away and left the poor thing alone."
Quite predictable once he stepped foot in the ring, the referee was instantly in his face yelling at him about having to leave the ring because this was a woman's match. He even got his knickers in such a twist that he started a count-out, which Sheamus ignored with a grin on his face. He was just here to morally support his partner, who was by the way still locked in that sharpshooter. Hmmm, that looked sort of painful! Such a pity! His eyes twinkled gleefully, especially when the following announcement was made.
"And the winner, as a result of a disqualification: Natalya." The referee was instantly at Natalya's side and held up her arm in victory, whereas AJ simply rolled on her back and stared up at the ceiling of the arena in disbelief. Sheamus' smirking visage eventually invaded her field of vision and her hands curled to fists at her sides. She hit them on the mat angrily and got up.
Without any warning whatsoever she attacked Sheamus in a blind rage. She jumped on his back and tried to apply the Black Widow on him. Heavy emphasis on tried. Because of him being that much stronger, she was naturally in no position to bend back his arm, but unwittingly got herself in the perfect position for one of Sheamus' finishers: the White Noise.
"I could squish you right now, little lass," he told her, holding on tightly to her leg and her arm to bring his point across.
"I could scratch out your eyes," she hissed into his ears, loud enough for the microphone to pick up her voice. True to her words her fingers sailed past his face dangerously close.
He merely adjusted his hold on her. They had reached a stand-off. He turned his head to stare at her and she stared right back, coldly, unblinkingly, like a robot. But there was something in those eyes as well, something he registered on a deeper level than just his in ring persona. It spoke to the more private part of him that he reserved for the moments backstage of the show and went by the name Stephen Farrelly. He saw a certain loneliness and sadness in April's eyes. He almost would have let her drop upon that realisation, but he was professional enough not to and quickly found his way back into his role.
Neither of them was willing to back down. Her stubbornness rivalled his own and it amused him. He threw back his head and laughed, a reaction which completely threw the audience and AJ for a loop.
He placed her down on the ground, still laughing at the whole ridiculousness of the situation. They had been standing there in the middle of the ring with her sticking to his back like a overgrown tick for the last couple of minutes after all. If that wasn't hilarious, he didn't know what was. He wiped the tears of laughter from the corners of his eyes with the back of his hand, while AJ was watching him with a bemused facial expression that eventually turned into a knowing grin.
If the last couple of hours had shown anything, than it was probably this: the huge Irishman was anything but indifferent to her. She had already managed to get under his skin, which was a good thing.
"Peace?" she held out her hand to him in yet another attempt at manipulating him.
He watched it for a second with air of someone watching a huge spider crawl up your leg: with a mixture of odd fascination and repulsion.
"Wipe that creepy smile of yer face, lass," he told her, still hesitating to take her hand. "I won't be shaking that hand unless ya promise te never cost me a clean win again."
AJ's face fell and her smile was replaced by a calculating look. "Fine," she agreed, "if that's what it's going to take to keep you from sabotaging my matches again..."
"Fine." And with that they finally shook hands and formed a tentative and very shaky first alliance.