Author's Note: I'm not sure how this story will be received since I myself haven't experienced the subject of it and I don't want to offend those who have/are experiencing it so I'm prepared to delete it, if necessary…

Robyn or Robbie as her friends called her remembered the night of October 22, 2018 like it was yesterday. 'My real name is Joe and I've been living with leukemia for 11 years and unfortunately it's back…"

She also remembered the fallout of it on social media and even in her own locker room down at NXT. One thing that stuck out to her the most was people's disbelief that it could happen to Roman. Cancer? How could this be? He's face of the company? The thought of the body of this handsome, vibrant man in the prime of his life betraying him seemed impossible to some.

The show was definitely not the same but according to the quote, it must go on. At some point Mr. McMahon decided that the rosters needed fresh blood and that's where she along with Lacey Evans, Nikki Cross and a lot of NXT male superstars came in. Lacey was getting the most airtime and Nikki got to participate in the Rumble and Elimination but Robbie was bounced between Raw and Smackdown participating in random tag matches but for the most part, she performed in dark matches before the show, occasionally taped throwaway matches for Main Event.

She knew backstage would be hectic tonight because of two big events: the return of Roman Reigns and Ric Flair's birthday.

Roman arrived about two hours before show time and people swarmed him. Robbie hung back in the shadows. He was coming back to people he knew and had bonds with and Robbie would feel out of place approaching him as a new face while he was busy catching up with the others. She hadn't personally met him but by all account he was a great man, husband, father, leader, role model and all around stand up guy.

While Ric was supposedly having an on air party tonight, there was one already set up for him backstage and that's where she went off to. Pretty soon Roman made his way in there and once again, he was surrounded before he had both feet in the door. The difference between being out in the open of the backstage area and being in an isolated room became crystal clear – there was only one way to escape and Roman happened to be standing by it.

Robbie took a deep breath and stood knowing that it was probably better to go up to him rather than have him approach her. According to backstage etiquette, it was customary for the new wrestler to introduce themselves to veteran wrestlers. Her plan was to say a quick hello and shake his hand before letting him get back to his conversations but it was just her luck that the crowd around him disbanded by the time she made it across the room so when he finally spotted her she had his full attention. He seemed to check her out without being obvious but she noticed. She knew she was attractive at 25 years of age, 5'8, long light brown hair and green eyed exotic beauty.

Finally, she was face to face with him. He was a gorgeous man. Her chest rose and fell with a deep breath through her nose. She reached her hand out to shake his all while trying to think of what to say. She wanted desperately to say the right words or at least something interesting or clever but the only thing that left her mouth was, "Hi, I'm R-Robbie, Robyn, uh, Robbie."

"Hi, R-Robbie, Robyn, uh Robbie," he greeted, shaking her hand. Great, he was mocking her. "I'm Joe. I'm good with faces and I don't remember yours before I left."

"Yeah, I was brought up from NXT during your absence," she replied.

"Well thank you for doing your part to hold down the fort."

"Hardly," she snorted. "Trust me, I'm not important."

He shook his head. "Everyone here is important. I'm just a member of the team like you. You'll be traveling 300 a days a year, training every day, maintaining a strict diet, a fighting through pain just like I am."

"I guess you're right," she smiled.

"Are you from the indies or homegrown?"

"Indies, kind of but not really. I went to a wrestling school for about a year and had like 3 indie matches before WWE snatched me up and then I continued to learn down at the performance center for 2 years so indie born, WWE perfected I'd say," she shrugged.

"That's cool," he nodded. "Well I got places to be, people see so unless there's something more I have to be going. It was nice meeting you, Robbie."

"I do want to say that you look amazing," she blurted and he smirked. Amazing definitely wasn't the word she was going for but it was out there now and it was time to make her exit before she said anything else. "It was nice meeting you, too, Joe."

"It wasn't so bad, huh?" he commented as she turned to walk away.

"What?"

"Meeting me. I saw you trying to avoid me earlier and you probably would've done the same thing in here if I wasn't basically blocking the door," he chuckled.

Robbie was mortified. The only thing she knew to do was explain herself without looking like a weirdo loner. "It wasn't that I was trying to avoid you but I didn't think now was the time to host an impromptu meet and greet with you being pulled in 30 different directions if you understand what I'm saying."

"Yeah, I understand," he nodded. "Well, I'll see you around."

Robbie dressed in her gear that consisted of a small green spandex trunks with a matching pink crop top with green trimming to wrestle a match on Main Event against Mickie James before Raw kicked off.

'"Approaching the ring from Brooklyn, New York, Robyn!"

The sympathy claps and cheers Robbie received when she walked to the ring annoyed her but hey, at least it was a reaction.

It started as a standard match and transitioned into some cool sequences but the turning point came when Mickie went for a Mick Kick, but Robbie caught it and dropped Mickie with a German suplex to the floor. Robbie went to the top rope to capitalize on it with a shooting star press but unfortunately for her Mickie rolled out of the way leaving her to hit the floor which she sold. Mickie rolled Robbie back in the ring and went for the cover. 1...2...3.

When Robbie pushed through the curtains to enter gorilla, Roman was standing there which made sense because he was kicking off Raw with his announcement. He seemed nervous but wasn't letting it show.

"You were pretty good there. I'm only saying 'pretty' because I'm sure a rushed 5 minute match didn't show your full potential," he clarified.

"Thanks and not to sound cocky but that's definitely not all I have to offer," she confidently replied. "It's a great crowd out there so I guess we warmed them up for you. I don't know whether the news is good or bad but good luck out there."

There was not a monitor backstage unwatched as Roman made his entrance, going around touching hands with every fan ringside and then he hugged his sister and mother. It was a beautiful sight to see and she saw tears being wiped backstage as they observed.

He thanked the crowd and talked about his religion. This officially put her at ease that whatever he said next would be positive. "I'm in remission, y'all."

The sounds around her were deafening as everyone backstage exploded with cheers and shouts of joy.

Later, she was showered, packed up and ready to leave during Bayley's match against Nia. She dragged her bags out of the women's locker room.

"Hey, Robbie, where are you going?" Stephanie asked, approached.

"I was planning on beating traffic so I could head back to the hotel," she answered. "I know it's Ric's birthday but I kind of already celebrated it backstage."

"Actually, we want the entire roster on the ramp during this segment. No exceptions," Stephanie replied, not leaving it up for discussion. "We'll be heading out during the commercial break after this match is over.."

"Alright," Robbie sighed as Stephanie walked away.

She was a few feet away from the locker room when she heard a voice call her name. When she turned around Roman was walking toward her with purpose. "Hey?"

"Why didn't you tell me?" his expression was serious.

"Tell you what?" she asked. She had a feeling of what he was referring to but waited before divulging.

He tilted his head. "You know what, Robbie. Let's not play around about this. From what I've just been told, you're a former WWE Make-A-Wish kid and cancer survivor."

It was true. Shortly before Robyn Nelson turned 9 she had been diagnosed with a form of cancer. She stopped going to school and lost most of her hair and weight. One thing that kept her going was wanting to live to see another Monday for the sole purpose of watching RAW. Her fantasy was to become a "Diva" but because of her condition she knew it wasn't realistic. Her parents did the next best thing and contacted Make-A-Wish and her wish was to meet Trish. Robbie was 10 years old.

Soon after that she went into remission only for it come back when she was 14. While her friends blossomed, went on dates and did teen things she was back in a hospital bed. She had hit rock bottom and went into a very dark place until she remembered her old purpose: live to see another Monday. It had been a long hard fight, but she and her family stuck with it. At 16, she went into remission once again.

She seemed to live life thereafter in constant paranoia, always looking over her shoulder waiting for it to return. Senior prom, nothing. Graduation, nothing. Freshman year at college, nothing. Joined a sorority, nothing. Sophomore year, nothing. It'd been 4 years and she finally relaxed and in doing so she realized that her college major wasn't what she wanted to do with her life. Her dream was to become a wrestler and she'd pursue it no matter what. She dropped out of college and her parents supported her decision.

Robbie blinked snapping back into reality. "So in order for you to find that out you either asked about me or Googled me. Which was it?"

"I kind of asked about all the new faces but what I heard about you was the most interesting," he replied.

"I didn't say anything because it would've been an awkward conversation. 'Hey, you have cancer, I had cancer. Yay, we have something in common!' so I just kept it to myself," she admitted.

"That's not awkward at all, it's something to be celebrated," he stated. "How long has it been for you?"

"9 years, it'll be 10 in November! Also, keep in mind this was prior to your announcement so me 'celebrating' would've been insensitive and I would've felt bad if you delivered bad news," she explained. "Besides, it wasn't my decision to reveal it anyway. A few weeks after your first announcement, fans dug up my old Facebook account and found a throwback Thursday pic of me and Trish. We were posing in front of a Make-A-Wish banner and I was wearing a wig. The picture started circulating so WWE couldn't pass up a full circle moment by writing a 'Former WWE Make-A-Wish kid grows up to become WWE Superstar' article. They had Trish come back for a photoshoot with me and everything."

"I'm sorry to hear that it happened that way," he reached out to comfort her by rubbing her shoulder.

"It's okay. It wasn't that I was ashamed or anything. Obviously, telling my story will give young WWE fans who are going through it right now hope that they too can beat this and stand where I am right now. My issue was not wanting people to feel sorry for me and I didn't want fans to feel obligated to cheer me. Obviously you can't boo a former Make-A-Wish kid, well you can but I'm sure it would be frowned upon."

"You have a great look and an impressive moveset from what I've seen so I'm sure you would've gotten over with the crowd on your own anyway."

"I hope you're right. My call up was so random. I understand Nikki's callup and Lacey has her character down plus she's a former marine. For me it felt like they were piggybacking off of your announcement and the publicity it received like 'hey, she had cancer, too. I'm sure that'll look good in a press release. Let's bring her up with the others," and so here I am."

"Well in that case, you should be thanking me for the pay raise, new experiences and opportunity to see the world when we travel…" he mumbled.

"Yeah, I am complaining and it does sound ridic, huh?" she snorted. "I was surprised to see you back out there in the ring."

"I wanted to show the fans who are still concerned about me through action that I'm doing better by getting involved with some physicality."

"When the news about me was exposed, the next time in the ring I was thrown around as gingerly and soft as possible. The match was horrible because of how slow it was. It was as if she thought me taking a hard bump would-"

"-hurt you or worse, bring you out of remission," he finished her sentence. "That's my biggest fear, being treated differently now in the ring by my opponents."

"Exactly," she agreed.

"Obviously I'll have to take it slow during my first few matches because of ring rust and my energy levels have to get used to matches again but after that I'll be good to go."

"Do you have to go through physiotherapy for cancer recovery to get your strength back?"

"I was doing light training during treatment once I cleared it with my doctor so I'm doing pretty well in that department but I'll still need to gradually pick up muscle mass and weight in the coming months," he noted. "So no physical therapy but I've been doing meditation as mental therapy."

"I'd also recommend yoga as another form of mental therapy. You're huge though so I can't really imagine you in any poses besides downward dog since you're The Big..err, nevermind," she cringed, cutting her corny joke short.

He laughed anyway. "I got to go. Not only because my mom and sister are here so I'm going to see them back to the hotel."

"Oh? Does Stephanie know you're leaving? She said we all had to be on stage, no exceptions but I guess you can catch a break since it's your first night back."

"I wouldn't mind going out there but I'm going to be on Good Morning America tomorrow so I have to catch a late flight to New York tonight," he replied.

"Okay, well, if you ever need someone to talk to who can understand where you're coming from, I'm here," she offered.

"What's your number?" he asked, pulling an iPhone out of his back pocket.

"Oh, I meant like backstage but okay," she cleared her throat before calling out the digits. He keyed it in and called because her phone vibrated in her hand before he disconnected. The light hit his wedding band as he lowered his phone. She was shocked because publicly he seemed to be a great husband but this may prove otherwise.

"There you go, now you have my number a well!" he said with a smile.

She sighed. "Can I say something?"

"Go ahead."

"I know exchanging numbers doesn't mean anything but you're married with 3 kids and I don't know if I'll feel comfortable communicating with you like that. You can say it's innocent or we're just texting all you want but let's be honest, that's usually how these things start. A text here, a text there, a few calls, facetiming and soon we'll be exchanging nudes. I'm sorry but I don't think it's worth it," she shook her head.

Roman looked around. "Can you keep a secret?"

Robbie raised a brow. "Sure?"

"My wife and I have been separated since August of last year. We had every intention of filing for divorce as soon as we figured out how to break the news to our daughter. Nothing scandalous happened as a matter of fact she's my best friend but we were young when we got together and just grew apart so while we still love each other, we're not in love with each other anymore. Two months later, I found out that my cancer returned and she was there for me every step of the way, as a friend. We still live in the same house and we're co-parents to our children. The divorce will eventually happen but it's on hold for now. Imagine if the 'Roman Reigns is now in remission' headlines were followed up with 'Roman Reigns is going through a divorce' headlines within the next few months. It would be a PR nightmare because the story would be sensationalized to hell and back on social media. 'He must've been having an affair with one of the female Superstars,' or worse 'How dare he leave his wife right after she stood by his side through his second battle with leukemia!' I'm trying to use my platform to spread awareness and I can't do that if the world thinks I'm an asshole who abandoned my wife immediately after the most trying period of my life. Galina understands this so for now we're keeping up appearances," he said, pointing to his wedding ring. "It's complicated so I'll understand if you don't want to get involved."

It was definitely complicated but he did have a point. She herself was judging him before he revealed their relationship status so she can't imagine the things that would be said about him if he and his wife suddenly divorced after appearing so happy and so normal. Angry smarks who never liked him and still don't would eat this up just to have a reason to boo him again. This was something she'd have to think long and hard about but for now, "I understand."

He seemed to sigh in relief. "Okay and like I said, I'm trying to keep up appearances so I think it's best if no one knows about this."

"Trust me, I don't want to be falsely labeled a home wrecker especially after witnessing how fans attacked Carmella before finding out that Corey and his wife were actually in the process of divorcing," she shivered.

"I don't know if this will become something or not but for right now I like your vibe, you're beautiful and your story has touched me and not because of my own story," he said, reaching for her hand.

"I feel the exact same way," she glanced at the monitor. Bayley was pinning Nia. "Oh shit."

"What?" his brows knitted in confusion.

"Steph said that we were going to move to the ramp during the commercial break after this match was over so I think we better go our separate ways before we get exposed already," Robbie advised.

"Good looking out," Roman backed away, creating space between them and right on time because she heard multiple sets of footsteps advancing toward them.