I own no one but my character Hope Carlson. Enjoy!

Hope and Happiness

Chapter One

"Hey, Ms. Carlson," said Stephanie McMahon. "Could you take these papers to my husband? These go to Finn Balor."

"Yes, ma'am." I said as I took the offered papers.

It was okay to work with the WWE, for the most part. Though as a Runner, I was almost always on the move when it came to televised shows and such like that.

One such superstar was Fergal Devitt, better known as Finn Balor. He was one of the hottest Raw superstars. And he was just as nice outside the show as he was in it.

"Are these the sketches you wanted?" I asked as I held out the papers to him.

"Yeah, thank you, Hope," he smiled at me.

Though he was not as big as the rest of the wrestlers, people like John Cena or Sheamus, I liked him. He had a quietness about himself, but a goofball at the same time. And he had lovely blue eyes. And the Irish accent he had was still breathtaking to listen to.

"Did you need anything else before I head off?" I asked.

"Don't scream." He looked at me with his eyes and a smirk playing at the corner of his mouth.

"Huh?"

Next thing I know was that there were a set of hands on my hips, at which point I gasped so loud it was like I was coming up for air. The papers in my hands didn't go flying, which was a good thing but when I turned around I had to look up at the laughing brown eyes of Cesaro.

"Claudio," I shoved him.

Of course he didn't budge, but he still laughed. He was dressed in that ridiculous jacket, his trunks and ring boots and the smile he gave me was all it took. I ended up laughing, along with Fergal and a nearby Sheamus.

"Why do you keep doing that?" I asked Claudio.

"Got her again?" Seth Rollins asked as he approached.

"Got her again." Claudio placed a hand on my shoulder. "It's too easy."

I straightened my glasses and looked back at Fergal. He shrugged.

"You guys are so annoying." I grumbled.

Colby Lopez in real life, Seth Rollins walked by me, his gripped my waist with his gloved hand and he leaned in. "Come on, you know you like it, Hope."

"Like a toothache." I countered as I pulled his hand off of me.

Just when I did that, Claudio wrapped his arms around my shoulders and pulled me to him. He placed his chin on top of my head, just to add insult to ego since he was pretty much well over a foot taller than me.

"Come out with us tonight after the show." He said.

"No." I tried to pry his arms off me.

"Yes." Colby said.

"No."

"Yes." The four men all said together.

I had a weird group of friends, seeing as that was strange in and of itself. How was it that I somehow managed to keep them as friends was even weirder. Stephen Farrelly, or Sheamus as he was known, was the first to approach me a few days after I started working as a Runner for the WWE. It just went deeper from there.

"If I say yes, will you let me go, Claudio?" I asked.

"Maybe." he murmured next to my ear.

"Fine."

"Fine? Just fine?" Fergal asked as he leaned against the wall across from us.

"Fine, I'll go out with you guys after the show. Now let me go, I still have runs to make." I said as I wiggled in Claudio's grasp.

He squeezed me, his cheek scraping up against my own. "Thank you."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," I managed to get out of his grasp. "You guys are all jerks."

"Well if you hadn't whistled your way into our lives we wouldn't have a reason to annoy you." Colby said as he pushed a lock of hair from his face.

I shook my head and walked away, biting my lower lip so they wouldn't see me blushing. With everything that had happened to me in my life, it all seemed to be going away. With four large men making me feel like I was back in high school. But unlike back in high school, they liked me.

Several turns later, I ended up in the main area where the Authority was holed up for Raw.

"Hope, thank goodness." I looked up again, this time at Triple H. "How's my favorite Runner?"

"I had to bypass The Bar, Rollins, and a Demon King just to get here." I shook my head as I flipped through the papers I was holding. "Here, this is what you were looking for."

"Thanks." He smiled. "I hope the divas aren't giving you any issues."

The only two divas that really did give me issues was Sonya and Alicia Fox, concerning my apparent overweight status. Though there was some weird thing with Sasha Banks that I couldn't understand, she just didn't seem to like me. But I wasn't going to say all that.

"No, no issues whatsoever." I looked at the papers. "Need anything before I run off again?" I asked.

"I'm fine, thanks." He waved the papers at me as he turned back to the chair he had been sitting in. "So they did get the memo about that NXT guy."

I turned and headed out. There were plans for the costume department that needed to be delivered and the electrical set up staff was down a man so I offered to help after I made rounds.

Working with the WWE was something I had appreciated, something that was great for me at that point in my life. It was strange to have people like Seth Rollins, Cesaro, Sheamus and Finn Balor as friends. At first I just tried to go under people's radar but it was the whistle, just a high pitched whistle to get the two rosters to listen up for Mr. McMahon's sake. After that, that was when everything seemed to get interesting.

Rounding a corner, more towards the stage I had one last delivery of papers to do. I found Renee talking to her husband Dean Ambrose. Actually it was more like Renee was talking and Dean looked rather tired. He was out on a true injury he sustained from Braun Strowman, so he was probably loopy from pain killers or he was just not there.

"Hey, Renee." I said. "Here's your script for tonight."

She smiled at me. "Thanks, Hope."

It was strange, being that before working for the company I had a major crush on Dean Ambrose. But it was more like respect. It was a respect for him and for Renee.

I lightly kicked his foot. "You okay in there, Jon?" I asked.

"Not in the least, chunky buns." He responded.

"Jon." Renee slapped his thigh.

I waved it off. "It's okay, Renee, I know he's joking. Shouldn't he be home, this is Vegas after all."

"He didn't feel like staying at home."

I shifted a little. Jon wasn't really paying attention, or at least I thought he wasn't. "Claudio, Colby, Fergal and Stephen asked me to go hang out with them after the show." I told Renee.

"Good. Bout time you had some fun." Jon crossed his good arm over his chest as he leaned back in the chair he was sitting in.

"Gee, thanks, Jon." I mumbled.

"You don't go out all that often, Hope. I mean, it's not frowned upon for you to hang out with the superstars." Renee said.

It was that one word, guys. Why with all my issues with dating was it not hard for me to have a friendship with a guy? Let alone a group of them? Sure they flirted but I was nowhere near the stratosphere as any of the other divas were.

I bit the inside of my lip.

"She's too old for Rollins." Jon said, then chuckled to himself.

"I'm only six months older than him."

"Still, you're older. I don't see you screwing Sheamus anytime soon. Maybe Cesaro or Finn." He tapped his chest. "You could screw both."

"Jon, you're not helping." Renee said.

"I'm not going to get involved with someone I work with. That's not going to happen. But you're right, about having fun. I do deserve some fun right now." I said.

"Good." Jon said.

"Now I have to go help the electrical team. They're a man down and I am just the woman that they need."

We said our goodbyes or farewells, or just a wave from Jon. I didn't see Joe Anoa'i around, which wasn't all that surprising. Roman Reigns was sort of being pushed beyond what Joe wanted but it was what the company wanted that mattered.

For the next couple of hours I had to restock anything in the catering area. Get scared witless by Finn Balor in his Demon King get up, engaged in sweat sandwich hug from Cesaro and Sheamus and then there was Seth Rollins. The stupid idiot, thought it would be fun to poke me in my ribs as I was stretching and yawning at the same time. Of course I gasped and he, along with a lot of other people nearby, laughed. All in all, it was a good night.

I was waiting outside the back door after the show. I had watched others superstars and divas leave for the night. They waved, said their goodbyes as I waited for my friends to show up.

"Ready to go?" Claudio asked as I stood at the back exit of the arena.

I, again, jumped. "What is with you tall freaks sneaking up so quietly?" I asked as I clasped my hand over my chest.

Fergal, Colby and Stephen weren't far behind Claudio. Of course they were smiling like idiots.

Stephen laughed. "'Cause it's fun. What you think?"

Fergal winked at me. "I think you're cute jumping like that."

"And I think you like it." Colby half wrapped his arm around my hip and let it drag across my waist as he walked around me with his bag in hand.

I felt the heat in my face. But luckily it was dulled from the street lamps in the parking lot. The guys loaded up a rental car and we all got in. Colby drove, Stephen road shotgun and I was squeezed between Claudio and Fergal. I think it was more cramped with my ass in there but that's besides the point though neither the Swiss Superman or the Demon King said anything about it.

Can't wait to hear from you guys about this new story. I don't know if this is going to be a Seth/OC or a Cesaro/OC story yet, but as we go, I'll figure it out.