A/N: yea, yea I know what I said but I got a new laptop and I couldn't resist breaking it in and writing something new. It's slightly AU with Punk being a retired WWE superstar and AJ just starting to make her way into the business. Just a fair warning- there might be times I can't update every single day I have a job, a family and an illness so bare with me and try not to curse me in the reviews. Thanks everyone and I hope you enjoy it! Also the story is rated M because I like to curse a lot in my stories and there's going to be sexual situations (just a heads up!).

Welcome to Chicago

AJ arrived off the bus of Chicago on Friday night. It was freezing and all she had on was a light sweatshirt and a small gym bag slung over her shoulders. She looked at her phone and saw she a text message from her mother 'Call me when you get there baby, I love you xoxo also your father wants me to remind you he put mace in your purse.' . She quickly left the creepy and dark bus depot and was now in search of shelter for the night and the foreseeable future.

Not far from the bus depot was a very small and rundown motel that had a flashing vacancy sign. AJ walked over to the window where there was a large burly man sitting in a chair as he smoked a cigarette or at least she assumed it was a cigarette.

"Um hello?" she asked knocking lightly at the window to get the man's attention away from the small TV.

"$50 a night, there's no TV." the man said not even looking away from the small screen.

"I'll pay for seven days." She said and he finally looked over to her and when he saw her he looked very confused.

"How old are you?" the man asked stiffly.

"25." she told him unsure as to why he was asking.

"Are you on the run? Are cops going to come in here looking for you?" he asked her before accepting the money.

"No." She said to him. "I just need a place to crash for a couple of days until I get my living situation sorted. I'm new to town." she said slipping him the money through the small gap in the window.

"This isn't the best part of town." the man noted. "I mean it's really crumby for a young girl like yourself who doesn't even look 17."

"Here's my ID." she said willing showing him and pressing it against the glass. "I'm starting school out here on Monday."

"Near here?" he laughed counting the change he owed her and sliding it back.

"It's not too far I believe." she said to him looking at the address on her phone. "95th and 7th?"

"That's a good six blocks west." he said to her with a frown. "I also never heard of a school being there."

"It's a wrestling school." the brunette beamed.

"Wrestler?" he chuckled looking at her. "Now I've seen and heard it all." he said passing her a key.

AJ frowned at the remark but it was the same response she received from pretty much everyone back at home when she told them she was doing this. Her parents, her neighbors, her friends and she was even pretty sure her dog was judging her. They were all supportive but all tried to talk her out of it at some time or another. But nothing was going to stop her now, she was too close.

"Alright girly you're in room 203. There's no maid service so keep your room clean we clean out the rooms once your checked out, there's no ice in the ice machine and try not to wander around after dark." the man instructed.

"Got it." AJ said with an almost too happy smile. The man must have thought she was nuts.

"Welcome to Chicago kid." he remarked almost sarcastically.

Punk was in the dark studio that worked as a small and elite training school. He didn't own the gym but he did spend most of days working in it and training. His best friend Colt Cabana was in charge of the gym that helped produce some of the best wrestlers over the last three years. Most ended up in the independent circuit and one ended up getting signed to WWE NXT. Punk was 34 and his professional wrestling peaked and was already over. He was at one time the most in-demand WWE Champion of all time until nagging injuries and bitter feelings with management caused him to walk away.

Punk was hurting for money and the time he spent at the gym (which was most of his time since he was so bored) was free and donated. He liked hanging out with his friends and training the younger guys was a reminder of how much fun wrestling used to be for him. Sure this isn't exactly how imagined retirement but he wasn't complaining. He had more than enough money to never have to work a day in his life again even though he planned on it he just wasn't sure what he was going to do.

"Are you ever going home?" Colt asked his friend. "Classes have been over for an hour."

"Yea I was just heading out." Punk told him.

"You miss it huh?" Colt asked already knowing Punk was missing being in the ring. He fed off the attention from the crowd.

"Not really." He shrugged.

"You're in a rut man." Colt laughed. "You'll snap out of it."

"I'm not in a rut I like hanging around here, that a problem?" he asked.

"Of course not I'd pay you to stay here full-time if I could afford you." Colt said to him. "Speaking of I need a favor."

"Shoot." Punk said packing up his gym bag.

"I just got a got a call that there's an open spot for a couple of shoes in Japan. I need to leave tomorrow in order to make it can you handle things here? Run my classes for a week?" Colt asked.

"Yea sure." Punk said with ease. "I've got nothing else to do."

"Great. I have a new class starting tomorrow. Four guys and one girl." Colt reminded him. "Just do the basics and you don't have to go crazy with them just give them the tour then pass them off to Jim (another professional wrestler who helped Colt train)."

"It's cool I got it." Punk said to him with a laugh.

"Alright you need a ride home? I don't know why you take the train here." Colt said pulling his car keys out of his pocket.

"I'm not parking my brand new Mercedes outside of this shithole." Punk snorted. "If I had a crappy car like you do I'd take it here everyday too."

"You are such an asshole." Colt laughed.

The next day AJ stepped into the small studio training facility and was in awe. It wasn't as big as she imagined but it was just perfect. There were people hitting punching bags, two people rolling in the ring, a few guys on the mats stretching, across the room was weights were people were working out- it was her dream come true.

"Hey kid you lost?" a voice asked and she turned to see a tall man with dirty long blond hair standing behind her.

"I'm AJ." She introduced herself.

"AJ? You're with the new class?" the man asked surprised.

"You must be Jim I recognize you from the Ad's online." she said extending her hand.

"Colt didn't mention you were so tiny." Jim said unsurely.

"Great things come in small packages." She shrugged unsure on how to respond.

"Right." he chuckled. "A lot of the girls that train here are double your size. We don't have a fair match up for you here. Are you ok with that?"

"Yes I'm ready for to learn." she said in a positive attitude.

"Do you have the cash?" he asked with a sigh and AJ reached into her pocket and pulled out a large rolled up bundle of cash.

"It's mostly singles sorry." she said slightly embarrassed. "It's tips from the restaurant I worked in." she said to him.

"Cash is cash." he shrugged not seemingly caring about the denomination. "The locker room is back there it's a small one because we don't have many girls here. Drop your bag off and meet me on the mats."

"Ok." she said unable to hide her excitement.

"What was Colt thinking?" Jim asked as Punk walked over to him. "The guys are all out of shape and the girl looks like the 12 year old that was on my milk cartoon this morning."

"Colt carefully selects everyone I'm sure he knows what he was doing." Punk said to him with a shrug.

"How convenient that he happened to get called out of the country the night before this group arrives. It's got to be a gag." Jim remarked then walked off.

Punk wasn't a big fan of Jim because Jim had never worked in a wrestling promotion he was just a fitness trainer who thought he knew everything about a profession he had never actually worked in. But for some reason Colt liked him and trusted him to go into business with him. Punk didn't pay much attention to Jim mostly because he didn't usually deal with him and he didn't want to butt in to Colt's business affairs.

"Come on!" Jim yelled at the group of five who were starting today. First day was mostly a boot camp to see what they were made of. They were doing short drills and two guys had thrown up already, another was barely hanging on but one guy stood out and took everything Jim and Punk dished out but most noticeably AJ- the smallest and only girl in the group was clearly the star performer. She was in incredible shape.

"Quicker Chet!" Jim yelled at the slowing down man. "And you- Brandon is it? A girl is beating you." he scolded to the one man who managed to keep up. "Is that what you want? To be out shined by a girl? Disgraceful!"

Punk didn't like the choice of words especially since he offered AJ no words of encouragement. He folded his arms and kept his eyes on the group as Jim did his routine with them.

"Alright enough take five you all need it." Jim said disgusted.

"How did I do?" AJ asked Jim out of breath.

"You kept up the best that you could for a woman of your size." Jim shrugged at her. "Don't get cocky kid it's only day one." he warned her then walked off.

"Ass kissing won't help you here." The man Brandon informed her using his towel to clean his face off from the sweat.

"I wasn't ass kissing." AJ said to him as Punk watched from a few feet away.

"Look you're tiny and you can do push-ups that's great. But can you take a bump?" he asked her.

"Based off of the first few hours I can do anything you can do but only better." AJ smirked.

"You really are cocky." Brandon said eyeing her with annoyance. "It won't get you very far."

"She has a right to be cocky." Punk said walking over to them. "She's been kicking your ass all day at everything. Instead of putting her down maybe you should try to learn a thing or two from her."

"Yea maybe." Brandon said clearly not wanting to piss off Punk. "Good work kid." he said to AJ then walked away.

"You did do really good today." Punk said now looking down at AJ who refused to look him in the eye.

"Thanks." she said in a soft voice.

"Is there a reason you won't look at my face? Is it that horrible?" he joked.

"I'm just a big fan and I don't want to embarrass you." she admitted blushing slightly.

"Well you're going to have to get used to me because I am going to be one of your coaches." Punk smirked. "I appreciate the fact that you're a fan though."

"Sorry." she said finally looking up at him.

"You really did do good today but it is only day one so make sure you keep up with it." Punk said to her.

"I will. There's nothing I want more than to train here and walkout the best." AJ said to him honestly.

"With that kind of attitude you will. Just don't let anyone discourage you. Having thick skin is a big part of wrestling. It's probably harder than the physical stuff." Punk warned her.

"Is there a class here for that?" she joked.

"Yea it's called Punk's 'real talk' class." he teased. "You don't need it though I think you'll do just fine here."

"You're the first person to say that to me so thank you." she said to him.

"Thank me when you're fully trained and have your first paid match." Punk smirked.

AJ made it through her first training class. It was eight hours long and her body was now finally start to ache. Her back hurt, her arms, her legs anything she used in any form was killing her. She slowly walked to her hotel keeping her i-pod headphones plugged in and her head down. She jumped in the shower and saw she was already forming some bruises but she actually smiled at them. They were earned from hard work and that made her proud.

"Hi mom." AJ greeted happily as she finally had time to return her calls.

"The deal was to call me every 3 hours April." her mother reminded her.

"I'm 25." AJ reminded her mother.

"You could be 45 doesn't change the fact that you're still my baby." her mother reminded her. "How is the neighborhood? Is it just awful?"

"It's great. Much nicer than I thought." AJ lied smoothly.

"And now I want all of the details how was your first wrestling training day?" her mother asked.

"It was everything I imagined it would be. And according to one of my coaches I was the best in class." she confided. Punk had made sure to whisper it to her before she left.

"I knew you'd be great." her mother said to her.

"Is dad there?" AJ asked her.

"He's working honey he had the night shift." she told her. AJ's father worked security in a bank nearby.

"It's ok I'll just talk to him tomorrow." AJ said to her. She really wanted to hear her dad's voice but she'd have to wait.

"He said to tell you that he loves you and to be careful. If you need more money just call and he'll drive it down." she told her.

"He'll drive all the way to Chicago from New Jersey? You could just wire it." AJ laughed.

"He's really curious to see your living arrangements." Her mother admitted.

"It's fine I'm in a hotel right now and in a few days when I have some more time I'll look for an apartment or something." AJ assured her. "Stop worry about me."

"You're our only daughter of course we worry." Her mother said to her.

"I know and I love you both for it." AJ smiled into the phone. "I really need to get some sleep though I have to be up at 6 tomorrow."

"Ok call me the minute you're out of class." her mother said to her. "And I love you too baby."