A/N: I decided to try to write my first story, so there will be more to come with this. This is also my first time writing Nikki and Dean so I may put some unlikely things for them, but it explains why in the story. This specific chapter takes place at Night of Champions.

It's been a month. A month since Dean Ambrose has last been on TV. He's been gone ever since Seth Rollins curb stomped his head into cinder blocks and got carried out on a stretcher. Once he got to the back, he refused to be checked out and eventually ran off. Okay, so maybe he wasn't really hurt, but he had a movie to film.

WWE Studios reached out to him months ago about filming a movie. Dean was all for it, but only wanted to take a month off from wrestling. Dean knew it would be hard to get away because wrestling was like his drug, but it was even harder to be away from his girlfriend, Nikki Bella, although she's been acting strange.

At Summerslam, Nikki's sister Brie had a match against Stephanie McMahon, a match that Nikki cost her. Dean was shocked at the sight of her turning against her own sister, it wasn't like her at all. He was pissed off because she pulled exactly what Seth did, and she knew how he felt about it. Deep down, he thought there was maybe an explanation for it. Maybe Nikki was jealous of the attention Brie was getting? Maybe she secretly has plans with The Authority? Only she would know that.

On top of that, she wouldn't answer his calls, and when she did, she was very quiet and distant. He would call to check up on her at least once a day, but eventually decided to give her space. He didn't have time to deal or even ask about the Brie situation because he had to leave so soon after Summerslam and he wanted to talk about it in person.

As Dean walked back through gorilla to go backstage, Night of Champions was almost over. He was happy he got his hands on Seth Rollins and he couldn't wait to get back in the ring. At the corner of his eye, he spotted Nikki. He didn't know if it was the right time to talk to her knowing she had a match for the divas title to prepare for, but he figured he'd at least go and try, but bring up Brie after the Pay Per View.

He quickly ran up behind her, tapping her butt gently.

"Hey, Nik!" He greeted loudly.

"Ow, anyone ever teach you to keep your hands to yourself?" said Nikki. She couldn't help but smile weakly at the man.

There was no denying her feelings for him, but she knew they had drifted over the month they'd been apart.

"Sorry, mam" He teased, putting his arms behind his back,

"Do I at least get my kiss?"

"Not until later, I just had my makeup done and I don't have time to be fooling around".

Nikki felt herself coming up with any excuse to get away from Dean. She felt bad, and she did love him, but she couldn't deal with everything happening. She knew he'd bring up Brie, knowing how close they'd gotten, and she honestly didn't want to talk to him about her. He wouldn't understand.

"Did you see how I whooped Seth's ass?" He asked, trying to make conversation with her.

"Oh yeah, you looked really good" Nikki said, sounding distracted. She was fingering all the items on the makeup table to fight making eye contact with him.

Dean raised his eyebrow. "Anything bugging you? You seem distracted" he asked.

"Oh no, I was just concentrating on my match. Trying to be prepared because anything could happen".

Before Dean could reply, he saw Byron Saxton appear on the little tv on the table.

"Please welcome my guest at this time, Brie Bella" He spoke into the microphone.

Dean watched Nikki closely to see her reaction. She rolled her eyes, then stood up straight, crossing her arms and started watching the tv.

"There's two things that Nikki and karma have in common.. They're both a BITCH" said Brie, emphasizing the final word she said.

The words stung, badly. Dean saw her eyes bulge a bit once he heard what Brie called her. At least that gave him a sense that she deep down still cared for her.

"Just.. Ignore her." Dean said, not knowing what else to say.

"Whatever" Nikki retorted harshly. "My match is up next, we'll talk later".

She looked in the mirror, putting her snap back on and walked off.

"Go kick some ass!" Dean yelled, cupping his mouth to make sure she could still hear him. "Love you!"

Nikki was glad her match was up next, because she felt super awkward talking to Dean. Brie's words hurt, probably more than she would like to admit. She didn't know why she felt that way, because she knew she's said worse to her. But Dean's short "love you" hurt even more.

Nikki felt herself fighting back tears as she walked to gorilla. She replayed everything that happened in the past month in her head. Her turning on Brie, Dean leaving for his movie. She felt terrible for doing what she did. Not to Brie, but to Dean.

She knew all that he's been through in the past, which is why he built his walls up so high. She's heard of him having a bunch of one night stands, but they became friends and she fell for him. She was the one who knocked his walls down. Dean used to not be the romantic type, and he still wasn't, but he tried. It was totally out of character for him to say that he loved her first though. And that only made her feel even more bad.

You gotta focus Nicole, you're gonna be the new divas champion, she thought to herself.

As Nikki gently wiped her tears, she was thankful the makeup artist used waterproof mascara. She pushed all of her thoughts and worries to the back of her mind. As she heard her theme song blast throughout the arena, she walked out to the ring.

She'd been avoiding the topic all month long, but now that he's back, that's close to impossible.

She knew she dug herself too deep into a hole she couldn't get out of, but she didn't want to her him.

How is he going to react when he finds out? He was eventually going to.

How is he going to react when he finds out that Nikki is in love with Seth?

I hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter, the next one will come within the next week. Please review, it would mean a lot! (: