Disclaimer: I own none of the WWE Superstars in this story, only the OC Characters and my story idea.
A/N: So major hiatus from my other stories. I've already got another chapter up for The Summer That Was and Crossfire that just need tweaking before I upload. In the meantime, I've had a bit of a brainwave/inspirational moment and come up with this as well as another story. Enjoy!
Jessica Hamilton sighed in frustration, running a hand through her long dark hair. It was shaping up to be a long day. A long and very bad day. She was already running late for her meeting with Stephanie McMahon-Levesque. The security guard at the entrance to the backstage area of the arena had greeted her with a smile when she flashed her id card at him, but after that, it was like she didn't exist. As she searched through the confusing hallways of the arena for the office, she passed by backstage workers and wrestlers who didn't even bother to acknowledge her when she asked them for directions. One wrestler had scoffed at her, looking at her up and down, before storming off. This is exactly what she needed. Her first day on the job and she would be fired for being late to the meeting; if she ever got there. Biting her lip, she made a left down another corridor, reaching a dead end. Jessica ran another hand through her brown hair, and groaned. Out of the corner of her eye, she spied two women leaning against a box of equipment. Tightening her grip on her bag, she hesitantly approached the duo, and stood in front of them.
"Hi, I was wondering if you could point me in the direction of Stephanie McMahon's office, please?"
The way the taller woman looked her over was enough to make Jessica regret her decision to ask for directions. The woman bit back a smirk, "Didn't realise they let the ring rats into the arena before the show."
Jessica didn't have to be an idiot to know what that meant. Clenching her jaw, she took a step back, intent on leaving this woman and forgetting about the exchange. As she spun on her foot, she hurried away, only pausing when she heard the second woman rushing after her.
"Hey, wait!" Jessica turned and raised an eyebrow at the woman, recognising her as Vickie Guerrero, "I'm so sorry about Tamina. That was so rude. Are you new, honey? I'm Vickie." She held out her hand, smiling at the young girl, and Jessica shook her hand, tentatively, her eyes still focused over Vickie's shoulder at the other woman.
"Jessica."
Vickie smiled warmly, "If you're looking for Stephanie, you just need to take a right at the next corridor and her office will be the second door. It was nice to meet you, and if you need anything, you can find me alright?"
Jessica smiled, nodding her head before readjusting her bag on her shoulder. She spied the corridor Vickie mentioned and turned right into it, and sighed in relief when she spotted the door with the name of the McMahon she wanted to see. She knocked on the door quickly, and a call to come in was heard. She twisted the door knob, entering the makeshift office slowly. Closing the door behind her, she noticed that the office was barely furnished compared to what she'd previously seen on the live shows, and figured it was due to it only being a house show. She took a nervous step forward, her hands tightening around her bag strap. Stephanie McMahon looked up from her paper work and finally noticed Jessica. The older woman smiled, gesturing for her to take a seat in front of her desk.
"I'm so sorry I'm late-"
Stephanie waved a hand, "Honey, it's fine. I'm sure no one was of any help to you, so I can understand perfectly." Jessica raised an eyebrow at her new employer, and Stephanie sighed, "You're lucky you're not a male wrestler. Michael Mizanin was hazed for weeks before he finally got to change in the mens locker room." She chuckled at the worried look on the new girl's face, "Seriously, you'll be fine. Our divas are very welcoming. It should take some weeks to get to know evertone, but then you'll be part of the family."
The reassuring smile did little to ease Jessica, who was still worried that she would be an outcast here. It was bad enough she was new, but she wasn't from any of the developmental organisations that the WWE prides itself on training their upcoming wrestlers at. She was from Australia, with no professional training in wrestling. Everything that she knew was self taught from watching television, and from crashing various wrestling sessions at her local gym. The owner had taken her under his wing, and let her join in on the sessions with the other wrestlers. She hated to admit it, but she knew she was a personal favourite of the McMahon's already, considering she was handpicked. Triple H, or Paul Levesque, had seen her perform her modified hurricanrana on another wrestler, during one of his visits to Australia. He was on assighment to seek out an international wrestling community to invest some of the WWE's money in and widen their scope of wrestlers. Jessica had only been practicing when she scaled the outer turnbuckle and leaped into the air, catching her legs around her friend's neck. She'd swung her body back and under the girl, flipping them both over so Jessica's head skimmed the canvas before landing in a straddle over the other woman. To say Paul was impressed was an understatement. He had returned for a repeat session and watched her as she wrestled with a few other female wrestlers. Somehow, he had arranged for her to come to the US and sign with the WWE as a boost to the Diva's division. He had confided in her that he didn't have the greatest of expectations in the Diva's division due to the increasing number of models that were continuously hired, however, after seeing her, he was willing to give the division a chance. He'd also been sceptical about her small stature as Jessica only came in at 5'5, but she argued that she was at least taller than AJ Lee, which did earn her a chuckle from the WWE COO.
Jessica turned her attention back to Stephanie, who was shuffling through a pile of papers, trying to locate her an outline for her onscreen character. "Alright," started Stephanie, "We've promoted you as just Jessica. You won't be on television for a few weeks, but you'll be debuting at Money in the Bank, helping the face divas to win their tag team match. For the next two weeks, I want you to travel with us and get to know the layout and train with the Divas. You never know, we might throw you on during a house show just to start building interest. Here's all the information you'll need right now. You remember Goldust?" Jessica's eyebrows rose dramatically, and Stephanie suppressed a chuckle, "Minus the makeup, he is Dustin Rhodes and he's been looking after the Divas. Go grab a change of gear and you can meet them in the ring for a quick training session." She handed Jessica the papers, and smiled at her again, "I really hope you enjoy it here, Jessica. Paul and Dad are really looking forward to seeing how you cope with it all. Plus, I have been dying to hire a few more girls with potential to wrestle."
Jessica returned her smile, and headed for the foor, before pausing and turning around, "Um, Stephanie?"
As if she already knew what was going to be asked of her, Stephanie pointed to the left, "Next corridor, second door to your right is the Diva's locker room. After that, further down the corridor is the monitor bay, which leads to the gorilla area and out to the ring. Have fun, Jessica."
Her night did get worse, and she didn't have any fun at all. She didn't want to cry, but tears of frustration pricked at her eyes. She brought her hand to her face, and furiously brushed away the hot tears that were slowly making their way down her face. While Stephanie had pointed her in the right direction of the Diva's locker room, she came face to face with the Diva from earlier, Tamina. The older woman had looked her up and down again before telling her they were full, and slammed the door in her face. Lucky for Jessica, a Bella twin reopened the door, scolding Tamina before allowing Jessica to come in. The training session hadn't been much better. Clearly, someone told Rhodes about her, and he was animated to see her, beckoning her forward to introduce her to the girls and comment on how she was recruited. While some Divas had offer her small smiles and hellos, a few others looked less than impressed and made it their mission to trip the young girl, or tug her hair harder, throwing her face down to the mat several times. As she made her way through the lobby of the hotel, she ducked her head down, avoiding the looks of the other wrestlers arriving. She checked in, grabbing her key card and making a bee-line for the elevator. Jessica huddled in the back of the elevator, her trucker hat low over her eyes to avoid recognition as other Divas and wrestlers hopped on the same elevator.
"Can you believe that girl tonight?" sneered Tamina, as she stood beside Alicia Fox. "God, the way they carried on about her. We honestly don't need anyone else in this division right now and then they go and bring that in? Give me a break."
Brie Bella glared at Tamina from one side of the elevator, "Grow up, Tamina. And exactly what merits did you get into the WWE on? Oh that's right, your daddy's. Just shut up and give the poor girl a chance."
Alicia Fox rolled her eyes, "She's nothing special to look at and she doesn't seem to have any confidence. I give her a month."
Tamina laughed cruelly, opening her mouth to agree before a deep voice interrupted the bitching between the Divas, "If you ladies are going to insist on having a catfight in the elevator, could you wait until you get outside. I don't want to be a victim of another one of Fox's wayward punches and end up with a black eye."
Alicia gaped at the older man, and Brie Bella sent a smile to him, wordlessly thanking him for the intrusion. CM Punk nodded back at the former Diva's champion, before glancing to his left and realising an unknown figure huddled in the back of the elevator. His stomach dropped a little, realising that the young girl must've been the target of Tamina and Alicia's rant.
Jessica stared straight ahead from her spot behind them. Tears were making their way slowly down her face, and she bit her lip. She did notice from the corner of her eye that CM Punk was watching her curiously. He must've put two and two together and realised she was the one they were talking about. As the elevator arrived on her floor, she drove her shoulder into the back of Tamina while she exited the elevator. The move did nothing more than cause Tamina and Alicia to burst into laughter, snide remarks flowing from their mouth about the young Australian. CM Punk shook his head, exiting the elevator also, and he turned back to the girls, narrowing his eyes at them, "You girls are pathetic."
Her hands were shaking from anger, as she tried to put her keycard in the card reader of her room. The light on the handle turned red again, and she smacked the door, biting her lip to stifle a sob. She heard a voice calling behind her, and she turned around to face CM Punk, a hand reaching up to brush away the tears. "What?" she hissed, her face red.
CM Punk frowned at the girl, "You alright?"
Jessica chuckled, sadly, "I'm fine."
"You don't look fine," said Punk, his head tilting slightly to look at her. He stuck his hand out to her to shake, "I'm CM Punk, or Phil. But mainly, Punk."
Jessica nodded, reaching forward to shake his hand quicky, "Jessica Hamilton."
Punk flicked his tongue out to push his lip ring, rocking back on his heels, "First night?" At Jessica's nod, he continued, "I'd like to say it gets better fast, but it really doesn't. You just got to not let them get to you. Show them why you really are here, and from what I've heard backstage, there's good reason for you to be here." He felt slightly pleased when he got a small smile out of the dark haired girl, and he nodded at her, taking a step away to continue his journey down the hotel corridor, "You'll be fine. Welcome to the WWE, kid."
Brushing her hair back from her face, she gave him a small wave, and entered her room. Despite his well wishes, Jessica was still feeling horrible and immediately collapsed on her bed, crying. It was day one and she already felt terrible and ready to go home. She was thankful that she'd seen a bit of good in both CM Punk and also the Bella twins. Maybe her co workers weren't as bad as Tamina and Alicia, but she was going to take Phil's warning in stride. She only had two more days of travelling before she could return to her apartment she was renting in LA, but until then, she slipped into bed, not bothering to change her clothes. She let out a small sob, curling into a ball, and prayed that maybe it would get better.
Almost two weeks in the WWE, and Jessica Hamilton didn't bother saying much anymore. Backstage, she was quite content with sticking to herself. Content being a far stretch. But she wasn't ready to even bother trying to talk to her coworkers. They were all busy with their own storylines and promotional work that Jessica just became like part of the furniture in the Diva's locker room during the house shows. Stabbing her salad with her fork, she kept her head down, eyes away from the surrounding bustle. The catering room was packed with Superstars and Divas, prior to the start of Raw. Seated at a table in the corner of the room, Jessica was alone, while the other tables were filled with people. She could hear their conversation. She had been fine sitting alone for the past two weeks. While she normally loved being surrounded by her friends and going out, she enjoyed some quiet moments to herself, even if these quiet moments had been consistent. But two days prior, something had changed. The chair opposite her had scraped against the concrete floor, causing her head to snap up, dark locks swinging as she'd eyed the woman in front of her.
She wasn't sure which Bella twin it was, but it was still a surprise to have anyone sitting there. The dark haired Diva had smiled at Jessica, before pulling out a magazine to read while eating her sandwich.
It had been happening like that now for two days, and tonight prior to Raw, Jessica had the courage to say something.
"I'm Jessica."
The Bella twin looked startled that Jessica had finally spoken. Her look of shock faded, and she smiled warmly at the young girl, "I know. I'm Brie." She watched as Jessica nodded, her attention returning to her food in front of her. Brie turned back to her book and nothing was said again.
Jessica finished her food, before standing up and tossing it in the nearby trash can. She hesitated for a moment, before looking over at Brie, "See you in the ring?"
The same warm smile was returned to her and Brie nodded, "See you out there."
After Raw, everyone was instructed to continue travelling with each other for the extra house shows that were put in place leading up to the Money in the Bank PPV. Finally by Friday, the Divas were allowed to practice their match properly in a ring. The actual ladder matches had been given priority during the week due to the excessive number of spots, but Jessica was nervous and excited regardless for her first appearance on television, especially on a pay-per-view. She headed down to the ring in a pair of black gym shorts and a tank top, her hair tied up tight in a pony tail so no one could try to pull her hair again. Her heart sank a little as she made her way down to the ring, realising that the Bellas were not part of the match. She'd have felt more comfortable with Brie in the ring, even thought they'd barely progressed past the hellos during their daily lunches together. Jessica climbed into the ring, standing off into the corner while Dustin ran through the basic outline of the match with the Divas.
"Alright, so we've got Layla, Kaitlyn and Tamina over here, and Beth, Natalya and Eve on this side. Now you've been given 5 minutes so let's make this memorable, alright ladies?" Dustin looked to his left and beamed when he saw Jessica, "Jessica! Just the lady I need. Ladies, you all know Jessica I presume? She'll be interfering in the match to help the faces win."
Tamina rolled her eyes, a scoff leaving her lips, "Because we need help from her, do we?"
Dustin shot a look her way, "And for that, you won't be tagging in much." He turned back to the girls, beckoning Jessica forward, "How are we going to do this, ladies? Any ideas?"
Eve Torres stepped forward, "That move she does. Get her to do that and then she can drag someone over for the pin."
"Shotgun being dragged!" Jessica jumped, startled by the loud voice from behind her. Kaitlyn grinned, "Get Torres here to moonsault me from the turnbuckle, while these other bitches are on the outside brawling-"
"I do not brawl," drawled Layla, an amused look on her face.
Kaitlyn shot her a look, "Anyway, Torres moonsaults. I'm dying over here. Jessica runs in and scales the turnbuckle, does the flippything that looks like she's going to break her neck and then after she grabs me and drags me over for the pin!"
Beth Phoenix stifled a laugh, "Did you have caffeine today?"
Jessica tried to stop the small smile that was growing on her face, "Sounds good, if that's what you guys want."
Eve nodded, "It's great. Now let's do this!"
While the Divas worked through their match, Jessica seated herself on a nearby box of equipment and watched in awe as they put together a match. Having never worked properly in a wrestling promotion, she hadn't seen first hand what it took to actually put a match together. She couldn't help the smile that was spreading on her face, and her mood was slowly lifting after the first few weeks here. She knew it was only a matter of time before being in the ring would make her feel a lot more a part of the WWE. As they worked through their moves, Jessica quietly took note of each technical move, muttering each one to herself. She was so involved in the match in front of her, she didn't even notice Beth Phoenix come take a seat next to her, a bottle of water in her hand.
"Are you calling the play?"
Her head snapped around to the left, and her eyes widened at the sudden appearance of the former Diva's Champion. Jessica chewed her lip, her cheeks burning red with embarrasment at being caught. She shrugged her shoulders, "Maybe?"
The blonde grinned at her, a small laugh escaping her lips, "Now that's something you don't see everyday. I don't think we've been properly introduced. I'm Beth."
"Jessica."
Beth nodded, "So you just started traveling with us?"
"I actually started travelling about two weeks ago-"
Beth's eyes widened and she choked on her water. Jessica saw the look on her face and realised the Glamazon hadn't noticed she had been travelling with them. Beth shook her head, wiping her mouth quickly, "Oh honey, I'm so sorry. It's just been crazy leading up to the PPV and especially since we all don't travel to each house show like the men. Gosh, I don't even want to know what you must think of us."
Jessica shrugged, "I figured it would take a bit of time."
The older woman patted her shoulder, "It does, but I'm letting you know now. You need anything? You come talk to me. I'm one of the nice ones. Don't let my onscreen character scare you." She winked at the young girl, her mood lifting when she saw Jessica laugh quietly at the statement.
"Elizabeth, when you are done having your mother's meeting, could you kindly get your ass back in the ring!" Dustin paused, glaring half-assed at the former Champion, "And you as well, Hamilton. Let's practice this move."
Jessica climbed into the ring, her nerves rising at the thought of performing on one of the Divas she'd spent years watching. Eve grinned at her, stepping closer, "So, explain to me how this move works, because the way Phil described it to Rener made it sound horrific."
The Australian frowned, "You've heard about it?"
Tamina groaned from her spot on the ring apron, "Yes, apparently you're something special that Paul went and showed a video of you performing the move to a bunch of the Superstars. Pretty ordinary if you ask me."
"Luckily no one asked you then," spat Eve, raising an eyebrow at the other Diva. She turned back to Jessica and gave her a reassuring smile, "I haven't seen this video, but just run through it with me and I'm sure I'll pick it up."
Jessica nodded, wiping her sweaty palms on her shorts, "It's like Lita's litacanrana. You face the turnbuckle and I jump onto your shoulders and hook my legs over your shoulders. Then instead of bending back to the side like she does, I bend back to go through your legs and using the momentum, you jump forward like in the hurricanrana. I go through your legs and end up straddling your chest." She took in the look on Eve's face and winced, realising this was probably going to be the end of her run if Eve refused to participate.
Eve paused, thinking about the move before sending her a wide grin, "That sounds amazing and terrifying, but I'll do it."
"Oh I'm so glad I set you up for this," said Kaitlyn, from her spot passed out on the floor of the ring, "I'll be over here not watching and not having a heart attack because that move sounds scary as hell."
Natalya waved from behind Beth and Layla, "Yeah, I'll be over here, not watching as well."
"Your confidence in the poor girl is overwhelming," remarked Dustin, dryly. "Lets get on with it, girls!"
As Jessica stood on the turnbuckle, she couldn't help but feel that maybe things weren't as bad as she first thought. The arena may have been empty and the Divas may only have been dressed in their gym clothes, but Jessica felt like it was a live show night and she didn't want to ruin this chance. Taking a deep breath, she leaped from the turnbuckle, all her hopes resting on the execution of her finishing move. Once she hit this move on Eve, she knew that she was one step closer to being part of the WWE and maybe she would finally feel a part of something.
A/N: I hope you guys liked this introduction! Reviews are always welcome :)