A/N: Well hi there! This little bit of fanfiction has been swirling around in my head ever since I started watching WWE again a few months ago. I hadn't watched it in years, but somehow I found myself suckered back in. What can I say the good looking, muscular men in various states of undress are just too tempting to resist watching Anywho, this story is going to start off on the slower side, please bear with me it will all be worth it. I'm a firm believer in setting up the story, giving you a chance to understand the characters. I want you to feel what they feel…laughter, tears, and anger are all welcomed emotions and if you start to experience them let me know so I can pat myself on the back for a job well done! Enough with my idle chit chat, on with the story. Oh and if you see anything in Italics it's a flashback.

"Once upon a time, in a magical kingdom far away there lived a beautiful princess. This princess had a loving mother and father, as well as an amazing older sister who was also her best friend. Truly, the princess had a blessed life. Now unlike most fairytales, this tale contains no evil queens. The princess grew up happy children, never wanting for anything. The king and queen were the fortunate parents of two beautiful girls, the eldest with fair skin and golden blonde locks of hair, with the youngest following suit look wise. Growing up, the princesses were two of the most beautiful in all of the land. The eldest met a powerful wizard one day while she was wandering through the woods. The wizard instantly fell in love with the princess, casting a love spell on her within minutes of seeing her. What he didn't know was that this spell was totally unnecessary, for the eldest princess had known from that very moment that they meant to be together forever. Soon there was to be a wedding and the entire kingdom rejoiced. There was feasting, drinking, and dancing for days. A few years had passed and the princess and wizard welcomed their first child, a daughter. Surprisingly, they would welcome a son into the world a little over a year later. They all lived happily ever after, one big happy family. Now, I think it is time for little children to fall asleep."

"But Aunt Annaleigh you didn't tell us what happened to the youngest princess. The story isn't finished," 6 year old Hannah protested.

"Yea Auntie Anna, you hafta finish the story so we sleep," piped in 4 year old Jonas.

"I suppose you two munchkins are right. The youngest princess felt this urge to branch out and see the world. She became a strong and fierce warrior, collecting exotic art work from all of her travels. She met a valiant knight, who travelled almost more than she did. They fell in love, and despite their constant adventures, they are also living happily ever after," I told them with a smile. "Goodnight you two, I love you both."

"Night," both children replied as I turned off the bedroom light. I couldn't help but smile as I heard the two begin whispering to each other in the night. Ah, to be a little kid again. It had become tradition for me to tell the silly made up fairytale to my niece and nephew whenever I happened to be in town visiting my sister, Shelby, and her husband Tomas. The fairytale had been a joke between my sister and I, as we liked to poke fun at our normal, middle class American upbringing. Once, during a night of babysitting I had discovered that little Hannah would quickly fall asleep when I told her the somewhat autobiographical fairytale. Now, it was just a ritual.

My sister is four years older than me, and we grew up the best of friends. It came as a huge surprise when she came back from her college study abroad program in Sweden with a Swedish fiancé. Tomas was an excellent guy though, so he was quickly accepted into our family. Her 30th birthday was fast approaching, as well as their 7th wedding anniversary. My sister was living out our parent's dream, that's for sure. A college graduate, married at 23, pregnant at 24 then again at 26. Tomas and her had the cute house with the white picket fence idea solidly down pat. Myself? Well I'm a bit of a different story. I guess you could count me as the proverbial wild child, although I'm really not as wild as I might seem.

Somehow during middle school I had gotten the crazy idea of wanting to become a professional wrestler when I grew up. My parents got a good chuckle out of that, and even went along with the idea taking me to whatever wrestling show happened to roll through the metro Detroit area. They never imagined that the idea wouldn't be a passing fancy. In high school I was one of two girls on the varsity wrestling team. On the side I would attempt to teach myself more high flying style moves out in the backyard on the trampoline. My trampoline escapades landed me in the emergency a couple of times much to my parents' dismay. Thankfully, the worst of my injuries during that time was a broken wrist and a dislocated shoulder.

After I graduated I was able to get involved in some of the various indy wrestling circuits and eight years later I'm still just as crazy about becoming a pro wrestler as I've ever been. I'm not a dainty little girl by any means, weighing in at 165 pounds and standing at 5'10. I'm bigger than the majority of any female talent you see currently in the WWE, only being outshined by Beth Phoenix in the muscles department. So there you have it, I'm an ambitious, toned, curvy, tattooed amazon just waiting and hoping that one day the WWE decides to restore some talent back into the Divas division. Until that happens though, I will apparently spend my days wrestling for the FCW NXT Divas division under a developmental contract. I've been here for a year already after shocking the hell out Bill DeMott and Ricky Steamboat during open auditions. That was clearly the best $500 I've spent in a long time!

Due to my size and strength I am capable of getting in the ring with some of the cruiserweight guys, although it doesn't happen near as much as I would like. I may not be able to perform all of the moves in my repertoire, but I am still able to put on one awesome show with them. I've found that my "record" against the men is pretty much filled with losses though, because the majority of the guys I get in the ring with refuse to lose to a female. That's just how it goes through, and let's face it, wrestling is a testosterone laden sport. This will never change, so one just has to be resourceful and learn how to work with the system.

So here I am, 26 year old Annaleigh Taylor the wrestling freak, living in Tampa, Florida. Thankfully my family has found themselves in Florida as well. My sister and her husband live in Jacksonville, and my parents migrated down so that they could be near their grandbabies and daughters. My parents, despite their surprising acceptance over my lifestyle, have only ever asked one thing of me. Their request was that I at least get some further schooling so that I would one day have something to fall back on. So in my "spare time" I managed to get my Bachelors in History. Not sure how that is something I can fall back on, but hey I can at least say that I have a BA.

My other passion besides wrestling and history would be tattoos. If I had my way I would be almost covered in tattoos. I've kept myself limited though and the tattoo count is currently at 8. In that tattoo count is my foot, ankle, thigh, shoulder, wrist, hip, inner arm, and the inside of my lip. The lip tattoo was my first, and I actually got it with Shelby. She has the word "For" and I have the word "Ever." It was our version of a best friends forever necklace! Looking back we probably could've come up with something a bit better, but hey, the memory is one that I will always laugh about. Shelby has never gotten another tattoo after that, I guess it traumatized her. Clearly, I was a different story!

I suppose this is a good segway into my love life. I'm by no means I promiscuous girl, although I'm definitely not virginal either. I can count my conquests on one hand, starting with number one, my high school boyfriend, and ending with number five, my boyfriend Brandon. Of the other three I don't have much to say except that I was young and flirty and immensely enjoyed some special attention from a few select wrestlers along the way. A couple of those have actually made it to the WWE, those lucky bastards! Anyways, back to the love of my life, Brandon. He is incredible. I met him two years ago while taking a run along the beach. It was basically the perfect, Hollywood created moment. I saw this tall, tan, tattooed gorgeous guy running in my direction. As he passed me, he flashed me this million watt smile and I was done for. I wound up tripping over my own two feet and landing face first in the sand. I hear a chuckle as I rolled over and then felt myself being picked up…

"Hey are you alright there?" the image of male perfection I had been gawking at asked me as he picked me up off my butt.

"Yea, besides a mouthful of sand and a slightly bruised pride I think everything is ok," I replied as I wiped some sand off of my face.

"Well good, I would hate to think that my smiling at you caused any long lasting damage," Mr. Perfect said with a shit eating grin.

"Oh and you're so sure that you were the reason I face planted in the sand? Someone sure is cocky," I retorted, as I tried to not let myself go weak in the knees.

"It's not cockiness, its confidence. And for the record, I had been watching you run since you came into my line of sight. Not once did I see you trip or misstep," Mr. Perfect answered.

"Holy shit, you are just full of it aren't you?" I cannot believe this guy. It's one thing to be good looking and have a decent personality, but to be good looking and a cocky? Come on maybe he wasn't as perfect as I had hoped.

"Ah, hold on you have a little sand right there," he said as he brushed a bit of sand off of my cheek. It was almost like an electric shockwave jolted right through my body. I hadn't felt this sort of instant reaction to anyone in a long time…not since I had met another arrogant man.

"Wow." We both remarked at the same time.

"Hi I'm Brandon. Perhaps I could join you on the remainder of your run," Mr. Perfect, now known as Brandon said as he at me.

"Yea, that would be fine. I could always use some company while running. I'm Annaleigh by the way," I answered. I had a distinct feeling that this was going to last a whole longer than just one run.

Brandon Sirack was definitely not just a one time running buddy. That first run led to getting an ice cream cone. The ice cream led to a dinner date, and before I knew it Brandon had become a permanent fixture in my life. He is my sweet, yet cocky, knight in shining armor. He is two years older than me, and is actually a history teacher/football coach at a local high school. Well, I should say that normally he teaches history and coaches football. Brandon is in the Army National Guard, and for the past 7 months he has been over in Iraq. It's been pretty rough not having him here with me, but there is only another 5 months until he is back in my arms. Practically half of our relationship has been spent apart and we are still going strong. That is saying something isn't it? Sadly he isn't able to be here for Christmas, but we are going to celebrate when he gets his leave in a month. Skype has to be the most incredible thing invented if you ask me!

Speaking of Skype I've got a video call from Brandon coming in!

"Babe you are never going to believe what happened today!" Brandon blurts out right when I accept the call.

"Well hello to you too mister! What happened today? Please don't tell me that your team got shot at again."

"Nah, no shooting today. Something awesome did happen though. So you know how the WWE does that holiday tour overseas? Well they stopped by my base today." Brandon said with a smile.

"They did? That's awesome baby. Did you get to see anyone?"

"Ohhh did I ever. You are not going to believe it. I got to escort some of the wrestlers around, including a Mr. John Cena. He is such an awesome guy. I always thought he was probably some tool when he wasn't on camera but I was way wrong about that. He's rather epic. And, since I had to miss your birthday last month I decided to do something special for you. I showed Cena some of your wrestling clips, I mean the guy's huge in the WWE so you know he has to have some sort of pull somewhere. So yea, I showed him some clips, and he was honest to God impressed. Babe, he wrote down your YouTube channel and he also asked if he could get in touch with you and come see you wrestle in person. So you should be expecting a call once he is back in the States. Happy belated birthday and Merry Christmas!"

"Brandon, I swear to God if you are just making all this up as some sort of joke…"

"I'm not making any of this up. He was super impressed. Babe this could be the break you've been waiting for."

"It could be if he actually calls. Baby thank you for talking me up to him, I still can't believe that he said he wants to come check me out. Thank you so much!" I cannot believe the likelihood of that ever happening, but just the fact that my boyfriend found the opportunity to show me off to John Cena was mystifying to me.

"Oh trust me, he's gonna call. Anna he lives like 20 minutes away from us, well, you at the moment. He's even said that once I'm back stateside that he's taking me out for a beer or five. He's a top notch guy." Brandon flashed me his million watt smile.

"Are you shiting me? You're going to go get a beer with John Cena, Mr. WWE, when you get back. How is it that you charm every single person that you meet Mr. Perfect?"

"What can I say babe, I just have a magnetic personality. It landed me you remember?"

"How on earth could I ever forget? I'm not sure what won me over first, the way you manhandled me up out of the sand or the way that you were certain that I tripped because of you."

"Haha, oh come on. You literally fell for me babe, but don't worry, I fell for you instantly too. Ah, listen Anna I have to get going. Have a merry Christmas and don't forget about that phone call coming your way. I love you."

"Merry Christmas Brandon. I miss you so much. At least we will get next Christmas together. I love you baby. Stay safe."

"Always safe babe, always safe," Brandon replied before our Skype session ended.

I leaned back in the chair, allowing what Brandon had just told me to sink in for a bit. He had met John Cena, he had shown him footage of my wrestling. Cena was impressed…does he actually have any pull in whether someone actually gets the call up to the WWE? No, it would just be too fantastic of an idea, too easy. I may not have had a rough life, but things just didn't get handed to me for any reason.

"Did I hear you Skyping with Brandon?" Shelby asked as she entered the room.

"Yea he had a rather exciting day and some news to tell me. It seems that the WWE visited his base as a part of their holiday tour. He got to be one of the ones doing the escorts, where he met and became instant friends with John Cena. He also found the time to show Cena some videos of me wrestling, and according to Bran, Cena wants to see me wrestle in person."

"Are you freaking serious Annaleigh? That is incredible! Brandon and his magnetic charm will never cease to amazing me. So when is Cena gonna come see you wrestle?"

I got up and took a moment to crack my back before turning to look at my sister.

"Brandon seems to think that Cena is going to call me when he is back in the States. I guess he lives rather close to us in the Tampa area, so it's not too difficult for him to stop by at FCW. I don't know, the whole thing just seems like a morale booster for a soldier. I mean why would Cena even care about some chick in development?"

"Hey, stranger things have happened. Besides, you know how it goes; you get ahead based on who you know. I'm still shocked that you haven't called any of the other guys you know up in the WWE. I'd like to think that they would help you out. "

"Yea Shells, because I'm really going to call my past hookups and ask them to help me make it to the big time. Pass! Besides, it's not like I was ever really uber friendly with either of them."

"Oh that's some horse shit and you know it sis. I know for a fact that you were rather close with one of them, he wasn't just a 'hookup' to you, at least not back then."

"Shut up. We hooked up whenever we happened to be in the same city. And ok maybe on one or two occasions we purposely sought each other out. That's ancient history though so how about we just drop it."

"Fine, I will drop it. Let's get back to the fact that John Cena wants to come see you wrestle!" Shelby says as she jumps up and down. Despite my sister's constant comments about how lame she thinks wrestling is, she couldn't help but develop a total fan girl crush on Cena. It really was rather amusing.

"Even better is how he made plans to take Brandon out for a drink once he is finally back from Iraq. I honestly don't know how Brandon does it."

"Your boyfriend missed his true calling; he really should be in politics. He's cocky yet it's totally endearing because he's got this great smile and personality as well. Not to mention that he definitely isn't a bad looking guy."

"Careful Shells, you don't want Tomas to get jealous," I tease.

"Hey, your man is good looking. Any female can see that. I didn't do too bad myself though…all that Swedish hotness." Shelby replies with a laugh.

"God Shelby, sometimes you still sound exactly like you did as a boy crazy teenage girl. I can't wait till Hannah gets to that stage and drives you crazy."

"Don't you go aging my baby girl on me. She is already 6 going on 16 in her little mind. How did I get so old Annie? I mean in two weeks I'm going to be 30. Where the hell does the time go?

"Ha, I have no idea Shells. No idea. I'm not getting any younger myself. But hey, don't we have some Christmas presents we need to be wrapping? Christmas is only a mere 3 days away."

"Oh yes. Let the wrapping extravaganza begin. The kids are fast asleep and the night is young. It's just so great that you are actually able to take a few days to spend up here with the family for Christmas."

"I've got to enjoy the family time when I can. It's not like I normally have an allowing schedule. In fact, when I do make it to the WWE it's only going to be worse."

"Well until that happens I get to enjoy all the little sister holiday time that I want. Now get to wrapping."

ONE WEEK LATER

Christmas had come and gone and was back in action before I knew it. 2010 had been an ok year, but I am ready to make 2011 an even better one! Our next show was going to be in two days at Ocala and it was practice and training as usual. I think that my routine was part of the reason I was surviving this year without Brandon. I had a regular routine down pat, and at the moment that was all I needed.

I had just gotten to the gym and set my things down when my phone began to ring. It was a number I didn't recognize, but instead of just letting it go to voicemail I decided to take a chance and answer it.

"Hello?"

"Hello there. Is this Annaleigh Taylor I am speaking with?" a sickeningly familiar voice asked.

"Oh my God, Brandon wasn't joking when he said to expect a phone call from you was he?" I asked THE John Cena.

"Haha, no he wasn't kidding. You're boyfriend showed me some clips of you in the ring and I have to say I was impressed. It was really refreshing to see a woman wrestler who wasn't just a pretty face. From what I saw you appear to actually have some talent to back up those good looks. I'd like to come out and get a chance to see you in action. I have some spare time tomorrow, so how about I come visit you at FCW and see how you handle yourself in the ring?"

"This is just unbelievable. The face of the WWE is calling me and interested in seeing my skills in the ring. Yes, tomorrow works perfectly. I've got a show coming up in two days and you are more than welcome to stop by. I'm going to be a part of a mixed tag match where I am going to break some of the rules and stay in the ring fighting a member of the opposite sex."

"So you really do get in the ring with the guys eh? Consider yourself officially penciled into my schedule. I will be there by 10 a.m. That works right?"

"We will start practicing around 11. As long as you don't mind getting in a quick workout with me 10 works great."

This was seriously not happening…

"Sure sounds like a plan. I will see you at 10 then Annaleigh. Have a great day."

"Thanks, I'm pretty positive that today just won't get any better."

Our call was over just as quickly as it had begun, and I found myself having to sit down real quick.

"Hey Annaleigh, you ready to go for a quick warm up run?" AJ asked me as she walked up to where I was sitting. "Annaleigh, you ok? You like kinda like you've seen a ghost. Oh please tell me that nothing happened to Brandon."

"Brandon is fine, thanks AJ. He just is a part of the reason that I'm totally shocked. Remember how I told you about him meeting John Cena? Well you will never guess who just called me and is coming here tomorrow to meet me and see me in action."

"No freaking way! John Cena is coming here just to meet you? That is epic. Brandon really got you a great Christmas present didn't he?"

"He definitely did. I'm not sure how Cena will help me get into the WWE, but hell meeting him and impressing him more can't possibly hurt!"

AJ smiled at me as she picked up my phone and looked at me.

"You do know that once you make it to the big time you are going to have to change your ringtone right?"

"Hey now, Cult of Personality happens to be in my list of favorite songs. It's not my fault that CM Punk used to use that as his entrance song in ROH, besides, he isn't using it as of now so who cares?"

AJ just rolled her eyes and laughed, taking off toward the door. I shook off my absolute shock and began running after my friend, needing a good run to clear my head and regain my focus.

A/N: Yay you made it through the first chapter! Again, I'm sorry that this story is going to start out a bit slow, but it's just the way things have to be. John Cena will be playing a huge role in this story and will be showing his lovely face in the next chapter. Also, I'm going to try to stick to virtually the same timeline that the WWE followed, seeing as how this story takes place last year. When it comes to Annaleigh's boyfriend Brandon, I imagine him looking like Ryan Gosling in "Crazy, Stupid, Love" but much taller and with many tattoos…the same cockiness and beautiful smile though. *Swoon*

Oh and a cookie will go to the first person who can guess the 2 WWE superstars that Annaleigh has had past relations with ;)

I will do my best to update at least once a week, perhaps more if my schedule and creative muses allow it.

Please review and let me know what you think! I look forward to hearing from y'all!