Author's note: I don't own Sheamus/Stephen Farrelly. Jenna is mine, as are her friends and family. I have a very busy Sheamus muse, though, so the chapters seem to be coming along pretty quickly. Future chapters will lean toward safe, sane, consensual D/s, so be warned. Don't like it? Don't read it. For those of you too impatient to wade through the backstory, skip to chapter 5. :)

CHAPTER 1

Jenna woke up slowly. She was laying on her side, which was not unusual in itself, but there were bars in front of her. A hospital bed? ...what the hell? Why can't she move her legs? She looked down into her lap and her blooming panic suddenly took a back seat to curiosity. There was a man - a large man at that - sitting next to her bed, with his head on the bed between her belly and knees. His arm was thrown over her legs, pinning her to the bed. Bright red hair shone on his head, and he was currently facing away from her...and snoring quite loudly.

She found that her hands moved just fine. She lifted her left hand to push the nurse call button, but paused momentarily to check out the IV in the back of her hand. What the hell had happened?

Moments later the nurse entered quietly, and smiled upon seeing the sleeping man. She looked up and saw that Jenna was awake and hurried to her side. "There you are, Jenna! We were worried about you!"

Jenna whispered hoarsely, "Wha happened?"

The nurse looked down at the sleeping man and then back at Jenna. "What's the last thing you remember, my dear?"

Jenna thought about it, and she remembered flying to California for Summerslam...she remembered going to the arena...she remembered some of the matches. Her eyes opened wide. The last thing she remembered seeing was Mark Henry throwing Sheamus through the safety barricades...right across the aisle from her. She looked down at the sleeping man's head in her lap. "Oh, shit."

The nurse pretended not to hear and bustled around to her back and took a bandage off...something. Something that hurt like a motherfucker. Jenna hissed and drew her knees up sharply in reaction. The man sleeping practically in her lap startled awake, and turned his head toward her. She stared at him dumbly, forgetting the pain in her back temporarily.

"Oh, Mr. Farrelly, you're awake! Jenna just woke up. I'm checking her bandages and will leave you alone to catch up," the nurse burbled. Jenna cut her eyes over at the nurse, unimpressed with her annoying...perkiness. "Bet she was a cheerleader in school," Jenna thought to herself. Heh.

She looked back at Sheamus-er, Stephen Farrelly, who was removing his arm from around her legs. He looked entirely out of place in this room, and yet still utterly adorable. Jenna shook her head...now is probably not the time to mark out. Figure out what the hell happened, THEN you can ask for an autograph.

"Jenna, hi...I'm Stephen. Um, do you remember what happened to get you here?"

Jenna, not trusting her voice yet, shook her head no. She stopped and looked puzzled, then nodded hesitantly. Sort of?

Stephen ran a hand through his hair and opened his mouth to speak, then closed it. He ran the same hand across his face, the stubble rasping the inside of his hand. He looked down at his hands.

Jenna watched him; he was obviously uncomfortable and unhappy with something. She tapped him on the shoulder and he looked up quickly, eyebrow raised.

"Why are you here?" Jenna whispered, her throat dry and scratchy. She looked at the table next to her and found the obligatory insulated pitcher of water and made to reach for it. Stephen brushed her hands away and poured her a cup of water, placing a straw in it and holding it up for her to drink. Jenna raised an eyebrow at this, but was too thirsty to decline the offer.

Stephen waited until she was finished drinking and then set the cup back down. He looked into her eyes and said, "It's my fault...I'm so SORRY, Jenna. It wasn't supposed to happen that way!"

Jenna was startled - he was genuinely upset about...well, about whatever had happened. She patted his arm in what she hoped was a reassuring manner-with all the tubes and wires hooked up on that arm it was hard to tell.

He took a deep breath, sat up straight, and began telling her about the series of events that led to her hospitalization.

Henry had thrown Sheamus through the barricade as planned, and the local little-league wrestlers planted there to take the brunt of the man crashing through had taken most of the hit, again, as planned. However, a piece of the metal inside the barricade had come dislodged and flown out upon impact, careening off Jenna's empty chair (she was standing up with the rest of the crowd) and cut her back from her left hip halfway up to her other shoulder. The cut was deep, and Jenna had passed out immediately, falling to the ground in the chaos. Sheamus was the one that noticed her laying there, so still and unmoving amongst the people around her. Once he'd been "helped up" he insisted that someone take a look at Jenna, who had fallen on her wounded back. She'd been stabilized at the arena and then sent to the ER immediately. She had lost a scary amount of blood and had been unconscious for nearly 48 hours. The doctors had stitched her back together, but there were places where the skin had been torn rather than cut; those were the spots that hurt the most now that Jenna's nerves were catching up with her.

Jenna listened passively. She didn't remember any of that and was remarkably all right with her ignorance. She whispered, "How bad is my back?"

Stephen winced slightly. "It'll be fine, lass. I'll show you a picture later. You need to rest right now."

Jenna was not fooled, and told him so with a pointedly raised eyebrow. He smiled and handed her a button on a cord. "This is your pain meds. Doctor says to use as needed for now. Do you need?"

Jenna did a quick assessment and shook her head no. She tapped his arm to get his attention - he was looking at his hands again. He looked up and she whispered, "But why are you here? With me?"

Stephen grinned and stood up, hoisting an enormous leg up into her view. His right leg was in a cast from the thigh to the ankle. "I'm kinda unable to work right now, and besides, I felt so terrible about what happened..."

Jenna laid there, processing. Trying to process, anyway - she was exhausted. She looked up at him, and once again, he was looking at his hands. Shoulder tap again. He looked up and she whispered, "Thank you. Not your fault, though. No apology needed." Jenna yawned and grimaced. She was so tired. She looked back at Stephen and whispered, "I'll be all right. You can leave, really."

Stephen shook his head. "I'm here for the duration, lass. Besides, the nurses love me," he said with a blinding smile.

Jenna smiled wearily and closed her eyes. She opened them with a start. "My sister! I need to call my sister-" she said hoarsely, looking around trying to find her cell phone.

Stephen took her hand and patted it, resting it back on the covers. "Shush now, lass. I have been here a few days with nothing to do. I have another confession..." He seemed more embarrassed about this than about the accident. He looked up at Jenna and said quietly, "I went through your phone trying to find someone to contact. I hope you don't mind. I called your sister last night. She should be here within a few hours."

Jenna lay there, mouth agape. Her brain wasn't processing as fast as she'd have liked. Her look of surprise was quickly replaced with one of suspicion. "How did you know who to call?"

Stephen flushed red and stammered, "Well, you see, I tried just going into your contacts, but there was no way to know who was who. I opened your facebook and got your sister's name off your wall, then looked her up in your contacts again."

Now it was Jenna's turn to blush. She closed her eyes, willing the bed to swallow her. What was that last text she had sent her sister during Sheamus' match? Something about seeing her tanned hands on his white thighs while she sucked his...oh, god. "Not in my text messages?" she asked.

He raised an eyebrow and replied, "No, but now that you mention it-" and made like he was going to open the drawer of her little side table. Jenna reached for it as well, and triggered a spasm of pain that ran across her back, white-hot. "Mother FUCKER!" she growled out, husky and groggy from the pain.

"Oh no, lass, I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have done that," Stephen said softly, running his hands over Jenna's brow and smoothing down her hair. "Lie still. Do you want your meds?"

Jenna nodded, a tear rolling down one cheek. Stephen pushed the button once, and then again. He continued stroking her hair, crooning a "ssshhhhhhh" just under his breath. "You rest. I'll be here again when you wake."