A/N: Thank-you Shawn.
His footsteps echoed off of the pavement as he headed into the arena. Tonight, he made a one night only return to plug his new show. His new show was opening up a brand new chapter of his forty-five year lifespan, and making this quick appearance on RAW was hopefully going to close the chapter that he ended in his life a little over a year ago. Sure, he did come back on occasion to see how everything was going, but he was never going to come back permanently. The job was too demanding and took a toll on his body that he couldn't handle anymore. On the other hand, he also wanted to have a lot of time with his wife and his two children that he wasn't able to have before since he was away on his job so often.
He reached the entrance of the arena and he made his way through the doors. He stopped dead in his tracks, and glanced around the place that he missed too much for his own good. No, it wasn't the arena that he missed, it was the atmosphere of the place he used to be apart of. It was the backstage of the WWE. He inhaled the scent. God, did he miss it here. No one knew how much he missed it here, nor how much he wanted to make his return and once again be apart of all of this. But so many factors were against him, that he didn't even bother to speak of it, he just kept the thought locked deep inside the back of his mind.
It's good to be back, He thought to himself with a smile. He continued his way through the back, and he met up with some of his old buddies and coworkers and they caught up with what was going on in all of their lives, how much they missed each other and whatnot. But as Shawn talked, laughed, and smiled with these people, someone was missing...
{H*B*K}
Her broken heart was pumping faster than it should from the inside of her chest. With her head hung, she paced around the Diva's locker room. Should she go talk to him, or should she pretend like he's not even here and move on with her life? She loved him after all, and the fact that she was in the same arena as him drove her mental. She pushed the hair out of her eyes, and felt the wetness from her eyes fall down her face. She pressed her body against the way, and she slowly dropped down to the floor. With her arms wrapped around her own body, she thought about what she should do... He didn't love her, so what was the point.
The door to the Diva's locker room opened, and then slammed shut. The pitter patter of shoes echoed off of the floor, then she head a voice, "Jay, your match is next." Julia looked up to see Eve Torres standing in front of her. She quickly looked back down to the floor, wiped the tears off of her face, and looked back up at Eve.
"Thanks Evey." She faked a smile at her friend, then she stood up and attempted to leave the locker room, but Eve grabbed her arm, and turned her around.
"Julia, is everything okay?" She sounded concerned, but Julia just shook it off.
"Yeah, I'm fine... I just have a lot on my mind." That was half true; Yeah, she did have a lot on her mind obviously, but she was the furthest thing from fine. Eve nodded hesitantly, then released Julia's arm and watched her leave the locker room.
She quickly walked to the gorilla position, deciding that she didn't want to see him after all; she wanted to avoid him at all costs. She made it there without seeing a trace of him, and she hummed a silent 'thank-you' to God. Then, she exited backstage, and became a totally different person when she entered the WWE universe.
Once her match was over, she returned backstage with three things; a cleared head, a wide smile, and the Diva's championship belt. Sure, she didn't have much competition with her match being against Kelly Kelly who can't wrestle much better than a paper bag, and she'd much rather have it be the Woman's championship belt, but this was her first title reign in a long time and it made her happy. On her way back, she received congratulations from her close friends.
"After Raw, I think this calls for a celebration!" John Cena suggested excitedly to his friend.
She smiled widely, then hugged her friend, "I couldn't agree with you more!" She told him, "Oh, and good luck with your match tonight, buddy."
"Thanks Jay," He smiled at her, then they went their separate ways. She continued down the corridor to the Diva's locker room. She was in need of a well deserved shower after winning her title. But her happiness was quickly exchanged for another emotion; well rather a vast mix of emotions when she heard his voice.
"Great job champ," He told her. She sure did miss that raspy voice of his.
"T-thank you," She stuttered. She didn't even bother facing him, if hearing his voice did this to her, actually seeing him would destroy her completely.
"Well, don't I get a hug?" She could hear the smile in his voice. And without warning, or thought process, she turned around, dropped her belt to the floor, and ran to him. She wrapped her arms around him tightly, and he constricted his arms around her waist. They just stood their, embracing each other tightly with thoughts of never letting go of one another. "I missed you," He admitted in a hushed tone.
"I missed you too," She whispered to him. They stood their in each others arms for a few moments longer in complete silence. The only noises that could be heard were the voice of the backstage crew busily working to make sure everything was going as planned for RAW that night. But finally, Shawn decided to break the silence that was in the air around them.
"I'm proud of you." He looked down at her, and she gazed back up at him and nodded, "I think we should celebrate your victory."
She bit her lip as she processed Shawn's words in her mind, "I don't know if that's a good idea," She admitted. Sure, she loved Shawn more than anyone else in world, but she was part of the reason that Shawn left, and she didn't want to go back to that place and have Shawn abandon her again...
He exhaled sharply, and he held her arms, "Jay, listen to me: Nothing will happen, I just want to hang out and celebrate. Winning a championship deserves a celebration."
She pondered his words... Maybe it was worth a shot... "Okay fine," She agreed, which made Shawn smile. "What do you have in store?"
He smiled brightly, and told her a simple, "You'll see."
{H*B*K}
The door knob was refusing the key that Shawn was continuously attempting to jam into the keyhole. Finally, after some more struggle, it finally accepted the key, and Shawn unlocked the door, allowing access for the two. He swung the door open, and motioned for Julia to walk in. She hummed a silent 'thank-you' for Shawn's gentlemanly actions, as she walked by him and into the room. He followed in behind her, and closed the door.
She scoped the room, then her eyes landed back on Shawn, "Nice room." She attempted to make small talk.
Shawn chuckled, "Thanks Jay." She nodded. Shawn walked over into the kitchen part of the hotel room and opened the refrigerator, revealing two bottles of wine. He grabbed the bottle, then walked over to Julia and held it out for her, "Hold this?"
She starred at the bottle and hesitated, "I thought you quit drinking when you quit WWE?" She raised an eyebrow.
"What Rebecca doesn't know, won't hurt her." He smiled playfully.
Julia shook her head and stole the bottle away from Shawn, "You shouldn't do things like that."
Shawn groaned as he walked away to grab wine glasses, "Yeah, and I do a lot of things that I shouldn't." He turned away from the cabinet after retrieved the wine glasses and stared back at Julia, who was looking at him, "Remember?" He smirked at her.
She rolled her eyes, "Yeah, and it was stupid."
He threw his hand over his heart, "That actually hurt."
She grinned, "Good. I'm good at revenge."
Shawn snorted, "Oh gosh, I better watch out!" He teased.
"Damn straight!" She exclaimed, making both herself and Shawn laugh.
Shawn placed down both of the wine glasses on the table, and poured each glass half way with wine. He placed the wine bottle on the table, picked up one glass and held it out for Julia. She gripped the glass and brought it to her lips. She tilted the cup, and the wine poured into her mouth. She remembered the flavor; it was the wine Shawn would always buy for when they would be together. The flavor brought memories back to Julia's mind.
Once she swallowed, she glanced at Shawn, who was enjoying his glass of wine as well. He noticed her stare, and he looked over at her, "Problem?" He questioned. She shook her head, and dropped her gaze to the floor. She let out a soft sigh, letting Shawn know that she was fibbing. He took a step closer to her, and touched her face with his free hand. She looked up at him, "Jay, what's the matter?"
"I missed this," She whispered, "I missed you. I missed us. What ever happened?" She paused, wondering what Shawn's answer would be to all of these questions. When he didn't answer right away, she answered for him, "Oh yeah, that's right: you remembered that you had a wife and two kids, and decided that it was time to forget about me!" She turned away from him, and folded her arms across her chest.
He placed his hand on her shoulder, and turned her around to face him, "Julia, look..." He sighed, then placed his wine glass down on the table. He reached his other hand up, and placed it on her other shoulder, "I'm sorry." She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. "I've missed you too... but that doesn't change the fact that I was married and had two babies at home before I even met you," He paused, praying that she'd understand,"Listen though: I've missed you, a lot." A smile was placed on both of their faces.
"I missed you too," She repeated once again.
His smile became brighter, although behind that smile was a deep feeling of sorrow, that made his eyes glossy with tears, "And I know you won't believe this but," He took a deep breath, "I love you."
She could've cried at that moment, but she bit back her tears with the smile that was fixated upon her face, "I love you too." She snaked her arms around Shawn's neck, and he dropped his arms down and constricted them around her waist. He pulled her in closer, and the shared a kiss. She pulled away from him, "Can we just forget that this ever happened?"
Shawn nodded, "I'd like too..." He paused, then a grin spread across his face, he reached his hand out, "Hi, I'm Shawn."
She giggled then shook his hand, "Hi, I'm Julia. It's nice to meet you."
"For the first time." He winked.
A/N: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm sappy.