It was quieter under the ring...
Lying on a rolled out mat, Amanda could relax… normally, she'd be in the locker room getting ready for the show tonight but she couldn't bring herself to interact with anyone just yet.
Looking at her phone, Amanda stopped at an older picture… 6 year old Daniel Benoit on Amanda's lap, Amanda's arms protectively wrapped around the small boy and Chris sitting next to Amanda, kissing the right side of her forehead.
'I really wish you guys were here.' Amanda thought, swiping to the next picture… one of her jumping into Chris's arms as he was helping her out of the ring after a match at a live event. The next one was of Daniel jumping into Amanda's arms as Nancy and Chris kissed like they were newlyweds again.
Amanda put her phone in her pocket… but then she let out a startled scream as she was dragged out from under the ring and tossed into it, grunting in pain as she hit the mat.
She then heard the laugh… the one that belonged to Heath Slater and saw him and Rhyno high fiving… it was a few seconds afterwards that both realised Amanda hadn't found it humorous, judging from the look on her face.
"Little one? You okay?" Rhyno asks as he and Heath got into the ring, Amanda backing away from Rhyno as he tried to help her up and out of the ring, running off… although both could tell it was more of a limp than a run.
"Man, I think we really hurt her." Heath says.
"Damn, I wasn't trying to, it was just a joke." Rhyno says, both going to find Amanda.
Once in a hallway in the backstage area, Amanda fell to the ground and leaned against the wall before she buried her face in her hands, sobbing. The pain filled crying was what guided another person towards her and it wasn't long before she felt familiar hands on her shoulders.
"Mandy, what's wrong lass?" Amanda heard, looked and saw Finn. Amanda leaned in and whispered to him what had just happened, Finn carefully pulling her away from the wall and pulling the back of Amanda's tank top and seeing bruises forming on her lower back and left side. "I don't think they meant to hurt you, at least I hope they didn't." He says, pulling Amanda into his arms and onto his lap.
"They can… be a bit rough when messing around with the other wrestlers. If it were at any other time, I'd be cussing them out but…" Amanda says, grabbing her phone and showing Finn the pictures she was looking at, Finn realising that Amanda had let the wall built up around her come crashing down long enough to reminisce about the good times… and had been caught off guard.
"Hey Finn, have you seen-" Heath says as he and Rhyno approached Finn, who turned and glared at the two while Amanda buried her face into Finn's torso, feeling herself starting to calm down.
"I really hope you two are proud of yourselves." Finn says in a low angered tone, picking Amanda up in his arms before standing up and walking off with her, Rhyno having seen a glimpse of the picture on Amanda's phone seconds earlier.
"Oh, damn… I really am a bad friend." Rhyno says, Heath looking at him. "Come on…" He says, the two leaving.
In their locker room, Finn lightly placed Amanda on the couch and Amanda cringed as her bruised side grazed against the leather, Finn placing an ice pack on Amanda's injured back and side before lightly stroking Amanda's hair and brushing her tears away.
"It's okay, little one… let your guard down around him." Amanda thought she heard Chris say, Amanda looking up at Finn.
"Thank you… for helping me, Finn." Amanda says, Finn lightly kissing her on her forehead.
"Amanda, I would never walk away from you when you're in pain… it wouldn't be right to leave you hurting, lass." Finn says, pulling Amanda into his arms after lying down next to her.
Amanda rested her head on Finn's left shoulder and closed her eyes, worn out…
She needed to rest up before tonight… despite everything, she wanted to entertain the fans tonight.