''Come on, Torres. I know you can do it.''

Alexa inhaled deeply as she stood facing the turnbuckle, preparing to climb to the top. Her hands faltered as she clutched the ropes and she closed her eyes. ''I can't...''

Colby 'Seth Rollins' Lopez and Jon 'Dean Ambrose' Good were sitting a few feet away from the ring, going over some ideas for their upcoming promo. Darren 'William Regal' Matthews was also perched nearby; keenly watching what was going on inside the ring.

Tom Prichard, the head trainer for FCW was trying his best to coax the woman to climb up to the top rope but was visibly losing his patience with her.

The man threw his hands up in the air in frustration. ''Oh, for fucks sake! It's not rocket science, just get up there!''

Colby and Jon shared an uneasy look as the shouting drew their attention towards the ring. Both men had seen Alexa around the building during their time at the WWE's developmental territory, but neither had ever spoken to her. In fact, the only people she appeared to socialize with was Darren, Shaul Guerrero and Joe Anoa'i, she mostly kept herself to herself.

Off to the side of them Darren rose from his chair, ready to intervene if he had to. The three watched as Alexa released her vice-like grip from the ropes, her arms dropping to her sides as she turned around. She opened her mouth to say something as she stepped towards him, before thinking better of it and snapping it closed.

The man sighed and ran a hand over his face. ''It's been nearly three years... You could be back on the main roster by now, but you're still in the same place you were when you first came here... You need to suck it up and get the fuck over it!"

Alexa stared at him blankly for a few moments before breezing past him to climb out of the ring. ''You know what, you can go fuck yourself!'' She peeled off her WWE t-shirt, leaving her in just her sports-bra and joggers, before throwing it at him angrily.

Jon let out a loud snort as it hit Tom square in the face, his companion giving him a look of reproach as he elbowed him in the ribs.

The woman marched towards the exit, while raising her arm in the air and flipping him the bird. ''I fucking quit!''

Alexa kept her head down as she made her way through the building, heading towards the parking lot. As soon as the sunlight hit her face she let the tears fall, angrily swiping at them with her hands. She was halfway to her car when she suddenly realized that, in her haste to leave, she had left her bag inside. Of course, her car keys happened to be in said bag. She refused to give Tom the satisfaction of walking back in there after her big walk-out. Letting out a huff, she walked over to the grass verge that was to the side of the building. Sitting down, she closed her eyes and leant back against the wall.

It felt like her whole life was spinning out of control.

Everything had been going so well... her career had taken off and was better than anything she could have ever dreamed. She had an awesome group of friends and an amazing boyfriend... then it all went to shit.

On the 13th of July 2008, she had found out that Randy had been unfaithful nine months earlier, and that had resulted in a baby. She had been beyond shocked, not even suspecting anything had been wrong in their relationship. They had their ups and downs like any other couple did, but overall they were happy, or so she thought.

When the whole thing blew up, Randy was out with a clavicle injury that he had sustained during his match against Triple H at One Night Stand the previous month. She had walked into the Roanoke Civic Center for a house show that evening, blissfully unaware of the impending heartbreak that was to come.

Alexa hummed to herself as she wandered through the arena, following the signs to the catering area. She had just driven the two and a half hours from Charleston, West Virgina to Roanoke, Virginia without stopping and really needed something to drink.

As soon as she stepped foot in the room, everyone stopped talking and the room went deathly silent. A look of confusion furrowed her brow as she looked around at everyone, they all looked uncomfortable and none of them would meet her eyes. She quickly grabbed a bottle of water and left wondering what the hell was going on.

She made her way down to the women's locker room and as soon as she stepped inside, her heart dropped. Mickie James and Phil 'CM Punk' Brooks, two of her closest friends, were all sat on the bench, obviously awaiting her arrival as they all stood when she entered.

''What the fuck is going on?'' She asked, an uneasy look on her face. ''Everyone's looking at me like someone killed my puppy and...''

Mickie moved over to her and placed a hand on her back, trying to steer her over to the bench. ''Come sit down.''

Alexa shrugged her off and crossed her arms over her chest. ''Just tell me.''

Phil heaved out a sigh and held out a newspaper. She snatched it out of his hands and glanced down at the headline, letting out a snort. ''Is this some kind of joke?''

WWE Star Randy Orton Has A New Title... Dad.

Alanna Marie Orton was born Saturday July 12th at 9:24 pm...

Alexa tore her eyes away from the page, the expressions on both of their faces telling her that it wasn't. She moved away from Phil as he reached out to comfort her, stumbling backwards towards the door. ''I... I can't...''

As soon as she stepped out of the room, her eyes filled with tears as she frantically tried to make sense of it all. Walking swiftly down the hallway, she pulled her phone out of her pocket, finding over thirty missed calls and a handful of voice mails from Randy. Sucking in a deep breath to steel herself, she dialled his number and waited.

''Lex-''

''Is it true?'' She cut him off quickly.

''Lex-''

''Is it true?''

''Yes...''

Fresh burning tears poured down her cheeks and she tried to keep her voice steady as she spoke. ''Don't call me again, Randy.''

''Wait, I-''

Alexa ended the call, covering her mouth with her hand to muffle the sobs. The phone started ringing and she violently hurled it towards the wall, watching as it shattered along with her heart.

The next thing she knew, a pair of strong, tattooed arms wrapped around her and pulled her into a tight hug. Immediately recognizing the tattoos as Phil's, she buried her face in his chest. ''I hate him.''

''It's going to be okay, Lex." Phil said softly, rubbing her back as she cried into his chest.

Alexa kept her head down as she walked through the United States RBC Center. They were in Raleigh, North Carolina for Raw and she was booked in a match against Mickie for the Women's Championship. They were in the process of slowly turning Sierra heel so she had been going up against Mickie a lot recently, trying to get some heat from the crowd.

After she had unloaded on Phil the previous night, she had collected herself enough to pull of her spot in the show without a hitch. After that, she had just fallen to pieces again. She had caught a ride to Raleigh with John straight after the show, he insisted on driving and she just sat in the back trying to get her head together.

''Lex!"

She looked up and felt herself start to tear up at the sight of Chris 'Jericho' Irvine jogging towards her. Dropping her bag on the floor, she closed the gap between them and practically jumped into his waiting arms. ''Thank God you're here.'' Her voice faltered as she tried to keep the tears at bay.

Chris gave her one last squeeze before he pulled back and studied her. ''You look like shit.''

She chuckled and swiped at her eyes, feeling a few tears escape. ''I know... How's Jess? And the kids?''

''The kids are all good, getting to be a bit of a handful though. Jess sends her love too.''

Alexa and Chris had been really close ever since they had been put in a storyline together when she first debuted in the WWE. They had just clicked and become best friends almost instantly. His wife Jessica had warmed to her right away too, and over the years she had become part of the Irvine family. They had even named one of their twins, Sierra, after her.

''I... I don't know what to do, Chris.''

He clenched his jaw angrily. ''He's just lucky he's not here. A lot of the guys are pissed...''

''Why?''

''Because of you, Lex. They're pissed that he would do something like that to you. You know everyone loves you and they've all got your back.''

Later that night, Alexa and Mickie had been in the ring for nearly ten minutes when the referee told them it was time to start wrapping things up. The crowd was loving the match but they were cheering for the both of them and not just for Mickie, like they were hoping. But any reaction was a good reaction, so they just went with it.

After being hit with a powerful DDT, Mickie was laid out in the ring and the crowd roared as Alexa climbed to the top rope, knowing what was coming next. She balanced herself, preparing to execute a corkscrew shooting star press which the WWE had dubbed the 'DeltaWave'. Just as she went to push herself off the top ropes, her foot caught on something.

Her heart leapt into her throat as she found herself unable to catch her balance and she felt herself falling backwards. She frantically tried to grab at the ring post in a last-ditch effort to sway the motion, she knew she wouldn't land safely. From the angle at which she was dropping, all she could see were the steel steps as she landed head first straight onto them. The 'thwack' she made when she hit seemed to echo through the arena and sent the crowd into a stunned silence.

Alexa blacked out for a moment before opening her eyes, only to find herself face-down and staring down at the mat. She went to push herself up, only to find that she couldn't and she started to freak out.

Mike Chioda, who was the referee for the match, rolled out of the ring and crouched down beside her. ''You okay?''

''I can't move.''

He reached out to grasp her hand, which had lain completely limp by the side of her head, before giving it a gentle squeeze. ''Can you feel that?''

She sucked in a breath as the panic started to build. ''No.''

He cursed under his breath before he jumped up and raised his hands above his head into an X shape, the universal sign to alert backstage officials and paramedics that it's a legitimate injury.

He shuffled away from her and the form of Doctor Chris Amann took his place, bending down so she could see him. He gave her a reassuring smile after sweeping the hair off of her face so she could see more clearly. ''Okay, I need you to squeeze my hand.''

Alexa focused all of her attention on the hand, willing it to move. ''I can't...'' She let out a shaky breath as she felt her eyes start to tear up.

''Okay.'' He put her hand back where it was, patting it gently. ''Pain rating, 1-10?''

''7... The tops of my shoulders... And my face and chest feel like their burning.''

He nodded before turning to another referee who had appeared. ''We need to get an ambulance ready, now.''

''My neck's broken isn't it?'' She asked, choking back a sob.

''It looks that way.'' responded with a grimace. ''We'll know more after we get you to the hospital.''

The next few minutes passed in a haze for Alexa.

A few more members of the medical team had rushed out from backstage and they had gently put a neck collar on her before loading her on to a backboard. The crowd remained still deathly silent as they wheeled her through to the back area.

As soon as they reached the backstage area she could hear people bustling around, asking what had happened and if she was alright. She kept her eyes closed and she kept her breathing under control, trying to stop herself from getting hysterical as the time passed and she still hadn't recovered any feeling.

''Get out of the fucking way you moron... Let me through!"

Alexa's eyes sprang open and she was immediately greeted by the concerned face of Chris. She tried to force out a smile but ended up just bursting into tears.

''Hey, hey, hey... Don't cry, come on.'' He picked up her hand and swallowed hard when he felt how limp it was. ''They're going to fix you right up, you'll be good as new in no time.''

Stephanie soon appeared, looking more frazzled than normal as she looked down at her with a small smile. ''The ambulance is almost here.''

''Please, I don't want to go by myself...''

''Chris will go with you... Where the fuck is this ambulance?!'' Stephanie screeched as she went to find out what was taking so long.

''Chris, I'm scared...''

He leaned down and planted a soft kiss on her hairline. ''You're going to be okay, kid.''

Chris hadn't told her this until a long time after, but there was a point when the doctors had really thought that she wasn't going to survive. She had broken her C1, C2 and then she had herniated her C5 and C6. But the C1 is shaped like a ring at the base of your skull and it controls all of your range of motion. apparently, what usually happens is that bone will snap inward and it'll sever all the nerves there which controls your breathing, controls the blood pumping to your brain, everything. Somehow, by some miracle, Alexa's had gone in, hit her spinal cord and bounced back out. They had to sedate her to keep her completely stabilized, because any slight movement could have made that bone go in and she could have died.

She had been extremely lucky but the doctors told her that she probably wouldn't be able to move again. Three days later, after lying in ICU trying to come to terms with everything... she had moved for the first time.

She had been in too much pain to even try to walk and was finally resigned to the fact that she would probably never be able to wrestle again. Then in walked Amy 'Lita' Dumas. The two had been close when they were working together during Alexa's first couple of years with the company, but then she retired and they eventually lost touch.

Amy gave her the mother of all motivational speeches, told her to stop feeling sorry for herself and get up and get on with her life. She had gone through something similar when she broke her neck back in 2003, so she knew what she was talking about. Amy had left after spending a little time with her and later that day she managed to walk down the hall to the bathroom.

A lot of people had stopped by during those first few days, all the support had been really overwhelming. Vince and Stephanie had been the first people to stop by, which really meant a lot to her. They were filled with reassurances that she wouldn't have to worry about any medical expenses and that they would take care of that side of things, all she had to do was focus on getting better.

Mickie and Phil had been the first to visit her after the McMahon's had left, what with them being her closest friends in the company at the time, closely followed by John Cena. Practically everybody she knew had been to visit her during those first few days, everyone except Randy. Which she was thankful for, she wasn't sure how she would have coped if he had turned up. A lot of her friends had voiced their opinion that they thought what happened was partly his fault, which she found a bit offensive. She was professional enough to put her personal troubles to the back of her mind when she was out in the ring, it had been just a freak accident.

After recovering from the surgery, Alexa had gone through months and months of physical therapy, including a lot at the Clearwater Spine & Rehabilitation. She had decided to move house long before she suffered the injury and had originally planned to get a place with Randy, but that had obviously changed given everything that had happened. The main reason she had chosen to move to Florida was to be closer to her friends. It was just an added bonus that she would be a short distance away from the rehab centre and the FCW building, where she knew she would be headed as soon as she was ready to return.

Jenna, her friend that she lived with up in Toronto, had handled everything to do with the sale of the house and Chris and Jess had helped her find a new place in the Florida area. After all of her belongings had been shipped down, she had enlisted some people to help her since she couldn't do any of it herself. Adam and Chris had made themselves useful by doing all the heavy lifting for her and Jason 'Christian' Reso had stopped by during his days off from TNA to help out too. John had also offered to help out, but had left shortly after arguing with Alexa. They had always been good friends, or at least she thought they had been. John had admitted that he had known about Randy cheating on her the whole time. Even when he found out about the pregnancy, he still decided not to tell her. She had been beyond angry with him at the time and practically banished him from her life. They were just starting to get back on friendly terms now, but she doubted that it would ever be the same as before.

It had been well over two years since the accident. Her neck was strong thanks to all the rehab she was doing and she was physically in the best shape of her life, but she was still no closer to getting back into that ring. She had trained down at FCW for about six months, only just stepping back inside the ring recently. There was a few moves she felt comfortable doing and she could do simple bumps but as soon as she tried to get up to that top rope, she froze. She just couldn't do it.

''Ahem.''

Alexa was suddenly torn from her inner musings and reluctantly opened her eyes, expecting to see Tom standing in front of her. Instead, she discovered the two men who had been near the ring earlier staring down at her. She cocked an eyebrow as she looked between the pair, neither man had ever said a single word to her so she wondered what they wanted.

''You forgot this.'' Colby dangled her bag in front of her cautiously, half-expecting her to snap at him.

She eyed the pink and black tote bag before looking up at him. ''Oh, I don't know...'' Her lips curled into a smirk. ''It looks good on you, maybe you should keep hold of it.''

Both men chuckled and he dropped it into her waiting hands. "Listen, a bunch of us are going out for a few drinks tonight... We wondered if you wanted to join us?''

A small, disbelieving laugh escaped her lips. "You don't even know me... did Darren put you up to this?"

Colby shook his head quickly. ''Of course not. It's just... well, you've been here for a while now but you don't really talk to any of us... And everyone's been too afraid to approach you because, well...''

''You walk around looking like you want to murder somebody.'' Jon cut in with a shrug.

''Jon!" Colby looked appalled and gaped at his friend.

Alexa's lips twitched at his bluntness and she nodded. ''No, he's right. I've been in a shitter of a mood recently.''

''Hey, no one can blame you.'' Colby told her softly, shooting her a smile.

She swallowed hard as the memories started to come rushing back, quickly shaking her head and aiming a grin at the pair in front of her. ''Okay. Where are we going?''