After nearly a year of being away from the camera, Nikki Bella sat down for her Total Divas catch-up. She wasn't used to being this glammed up anymore, the past month especially had been spent in sweatpants and no make-up. It felt good, though, and gave her the confidence she needed to tell this story. They started with a few warm-up promos, things that would air during commercials to announce her return to the screen but soon it was time to get down to the nitty gritty.
Taking a deep breath, the producer directed Nikki to start from the beginning.
"Oh wow, where do I even start?" Nikki subconsciously played with her hair, smoothing it out over her shoulders. "I think the internet exploded when the news broke about John cheating on me. It wasn't necessarily a behind closed door thing. Those pictures were everywhere." She closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. It still hurt so much. Opening her eyes again, she looked right into the camera. "To say I was devastated was an understatement. I had changed so much about who I was and what I wanted out of life because I was just so happy and in love and all of that changed again in the blink of an eye. Instead of going home that week after work, I changed my flight and went to Vegas. I didn't tell anyone, not even Brie. I still had John's credit card and I booked a suite at the Hard Rock and just went hard for a few days." She shrugged her shoulders. "I'm not proud of it. It wasn't the smartest thing to do. But I just wanted to not think for a while. I didn't want to be Nikki Bella for a while."
In another room, Dean fidgeted in his seat as the lighting was adjusted on him. "Does it have to be so bright right in my face like that?" he asked, holding a hand up to shade his eyes. The lights were adjusted a bit more and a producer asked if he was ready. "Yeah, let's roll. How does this work? Do I just answer your questions?" He listened as the producer explained the situation, telling him to start at the beginning, when he met Nicole. He had to laugh. "I dunno when I met her, man, we've worked together for a long time. But something tells me you're asking about the night everything around here really changed, huh? In that case, we met at Body English. It's a club at the Hard Rock in Vegas."
Running her fingers through her hair, Nikki continued. "I didn't really care that I was alone. I didn't want to be around anyone I knew but I didn't want to just sit in my room by myself either, you know? So I ended up at a club in the hotel." She laughed a bit, her cheeks blushing for the camera as she recalled that evening. "I was in the ladies room when two other girls came in, talking about some hot guy they were eyeing. One of them said she thought he was a professional wrestler and the other gushed about his blue eyes. I knew it had to be Dean, I knew he lived in Vegas and that he frequented the clubs there. I waited for them to leave before I went back out and looked for him." She shook her head, lowering her eyes to her lap as a smile filled her face. "You know, now that I think about it, I think I wanted his familiarity. Sure, we weren't exactly friends but we were acquaintances. I… I trusted him. I knew if I got super sloppy that he'd have my back, you know? He'd make sure some sleazy guy didn't try to take me home or something." She gave a nod of her head. "I barely knew him but I trusted him."
Dean had leaned forward in his seat and the producer quickly asked him to sit up so the camera caught him properly. With a bit of an eye roll, he did so. "Word got around pretty quick that she was there that night. I told one of my buddies to find her and bring her up to the VIP balcony we were at." He gave a shrug of his shoulders. "I had just broken up with my girlfriend about a month earlier and was already tired of the chase. Everyone knew about her and Cena so when I heard she was there in Vegas I put two and two together and figured I had a pretty good chance," he chuckled.
"The next thing I knew, one of the club promoters was telling me that someone was requesting my attendance up on the balcony and when I looked up, there was Dean leaning against the railing and just smirking at me so his dimples showed."
"She came up and we hit it off. Had a few drinks and danced a bit. She's a good dancer."
"He LOVES to dance!" she laughed. "Oh God, don't tell him I said that. He'll never admit it, but he loves to just move his shoulders to the music." Nikki impersonated his infamous moves that often made their way onto a WWE screen. "There was a whole lot of that and he kept twirling me around."
"It's a pretty standard move. You twirl a drunk girl around, she stumbles, you catch her. You save the day and bam! Your night's in the bag. It's way less creepy than some of the dudes that frequent that club, trust me."
"I invited him up to my room and the rest is history, I guess," Nikki shrugged, her hands folded in her lap. "It was just a one night stand type thing, you know? People do it all the time and I was single so why not? He wasn't a complete stranger. I knew we'd be able to go to work and not have it be a big deal."
"Nothing changed at work right after that." Dean rubbed his stubble covered chin. "We'd pass in the hall, just say hi or whatever and go on our way. It was totally normal."
"It was totally normal and no one ever knew until about two weeks after that. I… um… I realized I was late. I gave it another week but still, nothing, and that's when I told Brie. I told her everything and she went with me to get a pregnancy test and, well, it was positive." Nikki smiled into the camera but it held a bit of sadness. "I knew there was no way it was John's. Just… it wasn't his. I told Brie that and she made me tell Dean. He didn't have the best reaction. I don't think I ever witnessed a man yell with such anger directed at me before but it was like his emotions changed by the second. At first he thought it was a joke. Then shock. Then the anger. The things he said…" Nikki shook her head and took a deep breath. "We didn't speak after that for a while and I accepted that I was going to have to do this alone. I was finally getting what I wanted. A baby. A child of my own. And I had to do it alone."
Dean hung his head despite the producer's instructions. "I'm not proud of that moment. I have a pretty shitty past. You can google that and the shit you'll read online isn't nice and is mostly true. I've done a lot of stuff I'm not proud of, but that? The way I reacted and the way I spoke to her?" He shook his head and sat up, heaving a heavy sigh. "I'll probably spend the rest of my life making that up to her."
"The process is pretty standard. I had to tell Carino and we had a meeting with Steph, Hunter, and Vince. I obviously couldn't wrestle any more. So there I was, telling my bosses that I had a super slutty night and got knocked up because of it and couldn't work anymore. I didn't dare tell them it was Dean's. Not my brightest moment, to be honest, but it had to be done because even though I knew I was doing it alone, I wanted to do it. I had to. They quickly scripted a backstage angle where I got hurt and I went home the next day."
"It took me a few days to come around. To digest what she had told me and realize like… holy crap I knocked someone up. She's pregnant. I was a total… dick."
"I couldn't stay in San Diego anymore, mostly because John owned the house. I packed up my stuff and went to Phoenix to stay with Brie and Bryan for a bit. To just sort of hide out while I got my life organized. I made a doctor appointment to confirm it all and pulled some strings to start looking for an apartment."
"Roman literally beat some sense into me, that's the type of friend he is, but by then it was too late. She wasn't at work anymore, there were rumors that she got fired. I heard something about a wellness policy violation but I knew that was crap, obviously. I didn't even have her number so I tracked down her sister, who was none too happy with me, and begged her to tell me where Nikki was. It took some persuading but I found out where she was staying and got on a plane as fast as I could."
"I was still at Brie and Bryan's place, had just gotten back from my doctor appointment and was on the phone with my mom when the doorbell started being rung frantically and there was banging on the door. It scared me, but then I heard Dean's voice so I got up to answer it. I opened the door and he just rushed right in, grabbed my face, and kissed me."
"I didn't know what else to do. I was thinking I'd just apologize profusely and beg her to try to work something out so I could be a part of this kid's life but when I saw her standing there, I just went for it. Just grabbed her and kissed her and, well, the rest is history."
"That was a really strange next few days. I remember throwing some clothes into a bag and leaving Brie a note that I was okay and would explain everything later. Dean and I went and got a hotel room and we just stayed there until he had to go back to work. We talked… a lot. I had never been that honest with someone so quickly before. We told each other everything, every dark little secret. I think he was surprised to hear how many I had."
"I was surprised at how much she hid from the public eye, really, and I'd never tell anyone about it all. Not when she knows so much shit about me. But we bonded in that time. When she said she'd be looking for a place to live, I didn't hesitate to tell her to come to Vegas and stay with me. It's a bit of a hike by car, but only about an hour plane ride so her mom and sister could come whenever to keep an eye on her. I wanted to be able to come home and see her and be part of this whole thing as much as possible. That was really what Roman made me realize. This was so… normal. Kinda. The whole procreating thing, having a kid, it was something that no one ever expected from me, ever. It was stability and I needed that badly. Plus I wasn't gonna let this kid be disappointed by their dad like I was growing up." He chewed on his lip for a second and nodded his head. "I'm gonna be a good dad to her."
"So I moved to Vegas," Nikki beamed. "Dean and I, well, we've learned a lot about each other over the past few months." Nikki could tell the camera was panning out so she placed her hands on her protruding belly and rubbed. "I'm seven months pregnant and Dean and I are expecting a baby girl in June. I… I really couldn't be happier," she smiled, her eyes glistening with unshed tears brought on by hormones. "I'm really happy," she said and nodded her head. "Dean and I and Lily," she said, rubbing her belly again. "We're gonna be a family."
