Hello everyone! I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving if you are in the USA and if not I hope you had a wonderful day. I am happy to say that this little story was requested by Vinnie10. So please, sit back and enjoy!

"I'm destined for more than this." Melina silently whispered to herself while staring at the envelope in her hands. The WWE logo was prominently displayed on the envelope. This was her dream, to leave this town full of plastic people and finally make a name for herself. She knew she was meant for more than being just another girl who came from an upper middle class family that just wanted her to go to college and find a nice man to settle down with. Melina had lost count of the amount of times she had told her parents that wasn't for her and in her hands was her fate. She had told her parents that if she didn't get into the WWE she would go their route and live a boring life. Taking a deep breath she opened the envelope.

10 Years Later

This is how she was going to die. Big red machines holding her up for a choke slam after she had cost him the match against John Morrison. It was bad enough that even after helping him win, John had turned on her before leaving her to deal with Kane. She kicked her legs but found no purchase to help get her out of this predicament. Melina had just about given up when drum beats filled the arena and relief filled her, someone was coming to her rescue.

Kane let go of her to face the new threat and Melina crumpled in the corner only catching a blur of multicolor that was taking out the big man. She gasped for breath as Kane left and her savior came over to her.

"You alright?" A light southern accent hit her ears before she raised her eyes to look into the deep green ones of Jeff Hardy. He slid his arm under her and around her waist to pull her up.

"Yeah. Thanks for coming out." Melina was slightly out of breath partly because of what Kane did and partly because she never realized how toned the small man was. It wasn't hard to miss Jeff in the locker room with his bright colors but it was hard to notice how well toned he was in a mass of guys whose muscle mass was the size of her head.

"I couldn't let a pretty girl get hurt, now could I?" Jeff smiled to her as they finally crossed the gorilla position. He too was covertly checking out the shorter woman. He knew he wasn't the biggest guy but he couldn't help but notice how well she fit against him. People often thought of her as an air head yet he could see she was truly smart. Brains and a body that couldn't be denied when all that was around was women that seemed to be all skin and bones.

"Well, I am certainly grateful." A sweet smile graced her lips as they wondered aimlessly around back stage. Jeff didn't have anything else to do for the night; he was just about to change after his match when he saw what was going on. He didn't know what possessed him but before he knew it he was running to the ring to take on Kane.

"I saw that John left you out there," Melina nodded slowly wondering why he was bringing it up. She knew people here saw her as a piece of eye candy and she was fine playing valet while getting time in the ring but Melina now looked forward to venturing on a singles career. "I was just wondering if maybe you wanted a ride. I was going to get something to eat but we don't have to, what I mean to say is—"Melina couldn't help but smile at the adorableness of this man trying to ask her to get a meal.

"If you're asking me to go out on a date, the answer is yes." She shocked herself with her answer. Melina knew Jeff had some issues and demons that he fought with but something was pulling her to him. If she was honest it was probably because she found his simple southern charm to be cute.

"Really?" His voice was filled with doubt that brought a small smile from Melina.

"Sure. I mean, why not?" Jeff was enticed by her smile. He had thought she was amazing for a long time despite that she was quiet back stage except with a few people. They had talked and exchanged pleasantries but nothing more. Despite having noticing her Jeff knew that the locker room talked about him. They thought that they knew what was going on in his head and as such people in the back treated him differently, almost like he was an alien even more than they did with his odd style.

"Well let's go then." Jeff smiled and Melina returned it before he led the way out of the arena after they grabbed their bags.

Jeff brought Melina to a little burger place that he swore up and down had the best food. Melina laughed softly at how nervous he seemed to be around her. Long ago they had both learned that often onscreen personas were different than how the superstar was in real life. With Jeff, it was always what you see is what you get as far as Melina could see. She enjoyed the fact that he was so real; so different from how everyone in her hometown of LA were. Even with thousands of people cheering for him and being in the spotlight he remained grounded.

Melina's laughter at the antics he and his brother would get into was a sound Jeff wanted to commit to memory. It was soft and to him sounded like the best music he had heard. He laughed when she told him about her home town and the people in it. To him it was amazing that she grew up around such people but still was so down to earth.

"So he really thought that Shannon wouldn't push him in the pool?" Melina asked laughing after Jeff had described how Matt pushed Shannon Moore into the pool with his clothes on and the antics that followed.

"Oh yeah. I have never seen our dad laugh so hard in his life than when Shannon DDT'ed Matt into the pool." Jeff sipped his water with a smile. "Can I ask you something, Melina?" Jeff put a French fry into his mouth giving himself a moment to think of how to word the question before deciding to be straight forward as he always was when she nodded around a bite of her burger. It was quite a sight to him to see this beauty going to town on a bacon cheeseburger with all the fixings. He wondered where she put all that food considering how toned she was. "Why did you say yes?"

"To dinner?" She asked clarifying as she took a sip of her water when he nodded. "Because the way I figure, people talk. That's what they do and that won't change anytime soon. My father always told me to believe half of what you see and none of what you hear. Now to me, you admitted you had a problem and that takes guts to tell everyone in the WWE that you fucked up." Melina finished with a shrug. "Plus, you are cute." She smiled to him and he let out a chuckle. "Now let me ask you something." Melina popped a fry in her mouth after dipping it into ketchup. "What are you doing about your little problem?" She felt bad calling it a drug habit despite that being what it was. To her the man across from her didn't look like a man with a drug habit although it just showed that looks could be deceiving to the eye.

"I'm seeing a therapist actually." Jeff replied candidly and threw a little victory celebration in his head when Melina's expression didn't change from one of curiosity that seemed to lurk below the surface all night. "I fucked up but now all I can do is pick myself up and move on. I can't change what happened then but I can help myself better. I'm not going to say it isn't a struggle because it is, I battle with my demons every day but I want to be better for my fans. I have to fight to be a role model for all the kids that look up to me, all my little creatures." He took a chance and grabbed Melina's hand that was on the table. "I wanna get better and I will."

"I know you will." Melina's brilliant smile showed up once again and rose up to give her brown eyes a certain sparkle that Jeff wouldn't help but what to keep there permantly. To want to protect her from all the demons of the world because with that smile she shined light into him that made him forget his demons.