A/N: This is a collab between CelticPrincessx3 and I. I have the odd chapters and she has the even chapters. We spent a good amount of time planning this out thoroughly. We hope that you readers find a pairing that you like.

HANGING BY A MOMENT
Chapter 1: Better In Time

Charly Caruso-Balor grabbed her fraternal twin daughters', Finley and Teagan and walked out the door to take them to her best friend, Alexa Bliss' house before she got ready to head to the local news station, where she was one of the co-anchors. It was a tough task getting two five year olds ready. They were in kindergarten and it was a lot easier to handle them than it was at the very beginning of the school year.

With her husband on the road the majority of the time due his job as a big time soccer player, it felt like she lived the single parent life more often than not. It was a whole lot easier whenever her husband was home because the girls could sleep in and she could sleep in and leave later to head to her job. Sure, being at her job at 5am was still very early, but she could cherish that extra hour of sleep as opposed to waking up and dealing with five year olds who were not morning people.

Alexa was such an angel in disguise for taking her kids to school during the week. Alexa surely didn't mind because not only was she Charly's best friend, she was also the girls' gymnastics coach. Whenever Charly pulled up to Alexa's house, Alexa was already there waiting on the girls. The brunette opened the backseat door to her blue Mazda CX-5 and let the girls get out so they could walk inside. Charly followed them inside the house and she kissed Finly and Teagan on the cheek before the girls walked into Alexa's living room and took a seat on the couch.

"Rough morning?" The blonde asked, shutting the door behind her.

The brunette merely nodded her head. "It was a pain to get the girls ready this morning. Finley didn't want to wake up and Teagan just wanted to be deliberately slow. Like does it really take ten minutes for someone to brush their teeth?"

Alexa couldn't help but chuckle. "I'm sorry Char, you know I love you, but that's pretty funny."

"I'm glad you find my trouble with my twins hilarious." Alexa merely shrugged and Charly stuck her tongue out at her best friend. "I'm just ready for Finn to be home. I keep on telling myself two more days and then he'll be home."

"I can't imagine how hard it is taking care of two five year olds in the morning. I bet you're glad they're at least fraternal twins so you don't have the extra job of telling them apart."

"If they were identical, I wonder what kind of mother I would be if I couldn't tell my own kids apart after five years? But yes, it was nice to have fraternal twins, especially when they were infants." Charly snickered to herself at the thought of having identical twins. Having two kids at the same time was hard enough, but she wouldn't trade her two delicate flowers for anything. "Well, I got to go. Thanks again for taking the girls to school for me. I'll come pick them up from your gym this evening when I get done with the 6pm news."

"You know it's not a problem. The girls are no trouble with me." Alexa opened the door to let Charly go and watched as Charly took off to head the news station.

The blonde beauty loved her best friend, but she envied her too. Not only was Charly a successful news anchor alongside Renee Young, she had the perfect husband; whom even though wasn't home all the time, Charly didn't have to deal with any infidelity with Finn. And to top off everything, Charly had the most wonderful daughters anyone could ever ask for.

As far as she was concerned, she was some has-been gymnast who was single and probably wasn't even close to getting married. While she was blessed she own her own gymnastics studio and she got to work with some of the cutest and sweetest girls she'd ever met, she wonders everyday what would've happened if she hadn't suffered that torn ACL after a mistake on the vault. That was even her first injury to her ACL; she had a previous injury to that same extremity after getting into a bad car accident when she was seventeen. She didn't want to risk injury again so she decided to retire from gymnastic altogether and just coach girls who had aspirations to be a gymnast when they grew up.

Alexa sighed to herself and went to living room to hang out with Teagan and Finley, who were taking a nap before they had to leave for school at 7:15am. She cut on the TV and decided to watch some random show that was on until the morning news came on, where she saw Charly and Renee in action.

Carmella Van Dale sighed as she looked into her now half empty condo. Her and her boyfriend of three years, Cass, who's name was actually Colin Cassidy, but he preferred to be called Cass, broke up two days ago and she told him that she wanted his belongings out of the condo by the end of the week. And behold, when she got home from her job, all of this belongings were indeed gone. It just hit her from the moment she walked through the door and saw that none of his belongings were there that they were actually over.

What sucked the most is this condo she was living in by herself now was just bought by them together not even two months ago. They were going strong until they moved in together and then it seemed like their relationship went downhill. They were fighting all the time over stupid things. To be honest, she can't even recall what half of their arguments were even about; they were that petty.

She was so tired of always fighting with him that she just decided to end things once and for all. While she was bummed right now, she knew it was better for her sanity in the end.

Plus, she got a promotion today at work. She went from an assistant to being a team member of Public Relations for the company Bond St. Lingerie, which was a well known boutique located in Las Vegas. Their brand was referenced in big time magazines like Cosmopolitan and Elle. It was so exciting. She would get to pick the pictures that would go in magazines to represent the brand and she also gets to work with other companies to spread the word about the brand she worked for.

Just the thought of that made her forget for a moment that her and her ex-boyfriend of three years just broke up. One good thing came from that though, she got to put all her focus on her work with out Cass making her feel bad about it. She was also nervous because she would be working close and personal with the CEO of Bond St. Lingerie, Roman Reigns, who took over the company from his mother, who decided to retire and hand the reigns over to her son. Roman was a very attractive man and it made Carmella even more nervous at the thought of working alongside him.

After all, she just got done talking with him and he was the one who gave her the promotion. So, he obviously saw some potential in her, which made her nerves decline. He was very personable and it made Carmella grateful that she worked for such a humble boss. That made her love her job even more.

Thinking about the most positive thing that happened to her this week instead of the most negative thing, she put a smile on her beautiful face and headed to her bedroom to change her clothes and then pour herself a glass of wine, hoping to wind down for the night.

Shooting some text messages to her best friends: Corey Graves and Renee Young, which she was sure they would be together at this point considering they were a couple, she told them about the promotion she received. She also sent messages to her oldest friend: Alexa Bliss and another good friend of hers: Charly Caruso-Balor.

Adam Cole was setting up the finishing touches to his bar before opening began. He co-owned a bar and grill with fellow Rockhill native, Johnny Gargano. Him and Johnny had been friends ever since high school and their friendship only got stronger over the years. While Adam dealt with the bar, Gargano dealt with the restaurant. They decided to name their bar and grill: Flambeaus. It was the most popular place in Rockhill to eat and drink. There was a patio connected and one could see the mountainous views for miles. That was the main attraction of their restaurant.

While the restaurant opened at 4pm, the bar part didn't open until 6pm. The restaurant part was opened until 11pm and the bar part was closed until 1am; so it was a far trade. It was about 6:45pm now, so he was ready for most of his regulars to come waltzing in the door. And just like that, most of his regulars were making their way into the bar. However, there was a blonde walking his direction that had pink in her hair.

She was the gymnastics coach, Alexa Bliss, who at one time had the most potential of any gymnast out there. He read her story in the local Rockhill newspaper and on the news and he couldn't help but feel sorry for the woman. He'd heard that she came to Rockhill because she loved the mountainous atmosphere and it was where she could get a fresh start. They chatted once or twice, but it was nothing more than just brief small talk.

Her arrival at his bar certainly intrigued him. She did see her come in quite often with her good friend, Charly and her twins that she had with international soccer player Finn Balor, but of course they didn't come into the bar considering they were with little kids. What intrigued him more was that she was alone for the night.

Adam walked over towards the petite blonde woman and flashed her his most charming smile. "Alexa Bliss, to what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Well, Adam, I decided that I finally decided to check your bar out. As much as I've been here to eat, this is the first time that I've actually walked into your bar. I hope Gargano doesn't get mad that I'm deciding to be your customer instead of his."

Adam smirked. "I'm sure he'll be fine. We do co-own this place. He just runs the restaurant part and I run the bar. It is nice of you to grace me with your presence though." He shot her another smirk. "So, what can I get for you?"

"I'll take a frozen strawberry margarita please." He walked away and made her drink. A few minutes later he returned with her drink of choice. "Glad I could make Adam Cole's night." Alexa shot him a smile which was reciprocated. His smile made her insides feel all tingly. This was the first time she'd seen him smile directly at her and she couldn't help but realize how handsome of a man he really was. He had the perfect amount of facial hair and the most beautiful long brown hair she'd seen. She talked to the guy a handful of times and here she was feeling all fluttery on the inside. That's when she realized she has been single for way too long.

"It's always a good night whenever a beautiful lady like yourself walks in here." Alexa was indeed a beautiful woman to him. He found her to be even more adorable now that she was blushing at what he just said to her. "So, where is Charly and the twins at? Every time you walk in here, you're always with them."

Alexa took a sip from her margarita. "She decided to just be at home with the girls tonight. Plus, I was having a rough day, so I just wanted to kinda be by myself."

Her answer raised some concerns within him. "Why are you having a rough day?"

"Today is the anniversary of me retiring from my potential gymnastics career. Even though it's the fourth year, it's just something that's hard to deal with every year." A silent tear rolled down her cheek. "That's pretty pathetic, huh?"

"It's not pathetic at all, Alexa," The bartender wholeheartedly replied. "You had such great potential and it sucks that you had to retire due to your injury. I think you have every right to feel the way you do." Adam couldn't help but feel sympathy for the blonde beauty sitting before him.

Alexa wasn't sure why she never had a full blown conversation with Adam until now, but he seemed like a pretty chill guy. He seemed genuine with his actions. She knew where she would spending the rest of her evening. After all, she was a paying customer and she was going to take advantage of it.

A/N: What did you think? Please let us know your thoughts. Thanks for reading.

xo,
Kimberly and Danie