Prologue.

Tara-Mali Adams was sitting on the beach, looking out to sea, lost in her own thoughts. She was very different to that dark haired nineteen year old Hawaiian chick that had debuted at Wrestlemania Nine nearly twenty years ago as ringside support for her older brother, Brian "Crush" Adams. Had it really been that long since she started working for World Wrestling Entertainment? She had since lost her older brother and had a failed relationship with a former wrestler, who turned into a drug addict, and had very nearly taken her life. She closed her eyes and took a reassuring deep breath. She was determined not to let her thoughts wander to him ever again. It only made her feel upset every time she did. He'd caused far too much trouble and nearly ruined her life and career. She wasn't quite ready to do the whole forgiveness bit just yet. Tara-Mali was now happily engaged to Dwayne Johnson, or 'The Rock' as the world knew him as. She wasn't going to let the past affect that. Dwayne genuinely loved her. Tara knew she would be safe and protected with him.

Tara pulled her knees into herself, wrapped her arms around them and rested her chin on her knees. It seemed that whenever she thought of Jeff Hardy, it brought back all the memories of everything that went wrong between them. Jeff had chosen drugs over her and it still hurt. Thankfully, he was still looked up in a high security nut house, mainly for his own safety. She wouldn't have to worry about him.

Standing up, and deciding to quit brooding, Tara headed back up the beach to her Miami home she shared with Dwayne. She hadn't originally intended to stay in Miami. Tara had been staying with her brother when he had unexpectedly died in August 2007. She had stayed in Tampa to help her sister-in-law deal with some legal stuff and generally keep her company.

A brief trip to Miami to visit her friend had turned into a permanent stay when her friendship with Dwayne had turned into a serious relationship. It seemed that everyone had figured out Dwayne was in love with her long before Tara had figured it out for herself. Maybe it had been because he had been married when they initially met and Tara had only seen them being friends at that stage in their lives. But Tara was happier now than she had ever been and she didn't want to change that.

Chapter One.

It was January 1993. The nineteen year old Tara-Mali Adams had been signed up to the WWE (or WWF as it was then) to take part in the feud between her brother Brian "Crush" Adams and Doink The Clown. She was to appear at Wrestlemania Nine alongside her brother and be at ringside for him. Tara was as nervous as hell as she made her way Las Vegas for the Caesar's Palace event. Parking her car up, she headed for the hotel and got herself into her room. The room was incredibly expensive and luxurious looking, or at least it was in her opinion.

Holy crap, is this how famous people live? Or is it just Las Vegas being flashy and camp? She thought as she put her suitcase down and wandered about the room. The bed looked like it was big enough to sleep four people and the bathroom was all faux white marble and faux gold, although she liked the look of the stand free bath tub. Shame I probably won't get the chance to appreciate it, she thought sulkily, making a mental note to maybe try and revisit one day.

The following day was the event itself and Tara got more and more nervous with each passing hour. She couldn't eat and didn't sleep very well that night. The following morning, Tara crawled out of bed, and took a hot shower, hoping it would relax her. It didn't, pissing Tara off even more in the process. Looking in the bathroom mirror, she took a deep breath and stared back at the dark haired, green eyed Hawaiian girl looking back at her. Get a damn grip woman, she thought to herself. This is your big chance, don't screw it up. Grabbing her suitcase, she headed out of the door and went to the arena. Seeing her brother made things a little less scary.

"Hey Lilo, looking forward to today?" Lilo was Tara's nickname. It had started years before when their grandmother, due to Alzheimer's, had started calling Tara by the name Lilo. The nickname stuck and they had used it ever since. Tara didn't mind though.

Tara frowned. "I would be if I wasn't bricking it right now."

Brian grinned. "You'll be fine. But I know how you feel. My first appearance scared the crap out of me too."

Tara didn't get much time to breath, let alone think, after that as she was accosted by make up and wardrobe to get her made up for the event. By the time they were finished, Tara was dressed in a red mini dress with black hand prints all over it and black knee boots. Her hair was tied up in a harsh looking ponytail. She hated it and her inner tomboy sulked and protested the entire time. But once the match was over, Tara was more than happy to be able to change back into her tatty jeans and punk band tee shirt and put her hair back into the two pigtails she'd had them in when she had first arrived at the arena.

But despite the 'horrible' clothes, as she had later referred to the outfit, she loved the atmosphere. The fans were so wonderful, so enthusiastic. She could see herself enjoying this life. She watched the rest of the event backstage and did have the occasion attack of being star struck. She had spent a big part of the 1980s watching wrestling, watching the likes of Hulk Hogan and Money Incorporated. Now, here she was, working alongside them. It was so unreal and exciting. She was also get to work with people from well known wrestling families like Bret "Hitman" Hart and Luna Vachon.

Tara would have loved to have had a feud storyline with Luna Vachon. Tara thought her ring character was fantastic. Luna looked terrifying but wonderful at the same time. But she had already been brought in to feud with Sensational Sherri. Tara initially felt a little disappointed but as it transpired, her involvement with the Doink feud became interesting and fun in its own right. The writers agreed that they would set up a feud storyline for her and Luna at a later date in the future.

During the Crush/Tara/Doink fued, Doink would torment Tara at every opportunity, both back stage and at ringside, making Brian's "Crush" character even madder at the evil clown and determined to beat him into next year. The fans really got into the storyline and totally took to the feisty nineteen year old. In many ways, the fact that they were real life siblings made the anger and frustration shown by the Crush character towards the dastardly clown more understandable and convincing.

Later that year, Tara was involved in the storyline of Brian turning his back on his friend, the Macho Man Randy Savage. The day she was consulted about the storyline, she initially flipped out.

"I don't want to be fighting my brother, it feels just totally wrong!" She protested.

"This is where the boss wants us to take the story," the head writer told her. "I don't think there's much you, or I, can really do about it."

Tara skulked off to a quiet spot in the arena, finding some wooden pallets to sit on and to generally sulk. She needed time to get her head around the idea. It was bad enough being on her own for those few months whilst Brian had been injured. Now they were going to have to pretend to hate each other on camera. It was Savage who found her.

"Hey kid, you okay?" He asked as he sat down on the wooden pallets with her.

"No, not really, I hate this new storyline we have to be in."

Randy grinned. "That's the story writers for you. They tend to write stuff you hate but you have to go along with." He stood and helped her up to her feet.

"Doesn't mean I have to like it," she muttered, more to herself than to her friend.

The storyline took a lot out of her. She couldn't even be excited when she had been told she would get her wish of the feud storyline with Luna Vachon. Although Tara was happy that she had gotten her storyline with Luna, she struggled to get into the storyline as the whole family feud storyline really bothered her.

Heading into Wrestlemania Ten, it was her second Wrestlemania and she was to be at ringside for the Macho Man v Crush match. It was to be a Falls Count Anywhere match. It was hurtful for her to watch and to be part of. For months she had hated the storyline but felt she had to go along with it. Maybe it was because she was young and very much a family person. She loitered backstage, wondering if the job was worth it and pretty much refusing to talk to anyone; only talking with those that she had to. The wardrobe department and the hair and make up artists did their job a little quicker than usual. Even her own brother was hesitant to talk to her. It was Luna Vachon who was the one to be brave enough to talk to her.

"Hey, girlfriend, what's eating you?"

Tara spun around and was greeted by her friend's stunning smile. That's what Tara loved best about Luna; the fact that her smile made her look so stunningly beautiful despite her strange Goth looking appearance.

Tara sighed. "I know it's going to sound stupid but I am seriously not enjoying this damn family feud storyline. I don't care if it's only a storyline and not real. I just hate having to pretend I hate my brother."

Feeling sympathy for the younger woman, Luna put an arm around her shoulder. She knew from long and tough experience that the wrestling world could be really shit, especially when you were a woman. At that moment Tara felt an overwhelming urge to cry. It was the first time anyone had shown any real genuine sympathy for how she was feeling. The WWE was a big scary place and she was finding it hard to deal with it all. But Tara didn't get much of a chance to talk to her friend. The music started for the men to go to the ring. Tara sighed and headed to the ring with the Macho Man, not really taking in the atmosphere or the screaming fans.