Enzo felt like hell when he cracked his eyes open in the hospital room in Jackson Memorial, seeing Dianne sleeping in the recliner chair nearby… and handwritten notes on the bedside table.
'Make sure to rest up, both you and her.-Nia'
'Get better buddy and rest up, Dianne, we're worried.-Mandy and Finn.'
'You three are damn good friends.' Enzo thought as he fully woke up, seeing Dianne's eyes open.
"Morning… feeling any better, Zo?" Dianne asked sleepily.
"Not really, sweetheart." Enzo answered, turning to face her as she reached over and lightly stroked his hair.
"Well then I'm here to do something about that… don't like people being ill, least of all you." Dianne replied, before she got up from the chair and stretched out her limbs, then headed for the table where a cold pack was waiting. "Your forehead could cook an egg right now, you know that?"
"That happens with fevers…" Enzo replied as Dianne gently pressed the cold pack to Enzo's forehead. "Should've made sure that flu shot would hold up…" He muttered.
"They don't protect against all strains… you got yours around the same time Mandy got hers, right?" Dianne replied.
"Last February… why?" Enzo questioned.
"Immunizations are… imperfect. Sometimes they don't work right, they don't immunize you properly or sometimes even infect you themselves, but then after they do work… viruses and infections, they adapt. The same as all species, over time they adapt against threats to them… if someone today was immunized with an identical shot to one used merely 20 years ago, it would be useless." Dianne explained.
"They adapt… against immunizations?" Enzo questioned, Dianne nodding.
"That's what all that stuff a while ago was about, about the 'super virus'. They became immune themselves, to antibiotics. This is nowhere near as serious as that, of course… but what I'm saying is, either the jabs were faulty, or the viruses have adapted again." Dianne answered.
"Think we should check in on her?" Enzo asked, Dianne sending out a video call… moments later, it was answered and both heard Amanda in the background shouting "And stay out, fuckwad!" before slamming the door and joining Finn on the bed.
"Hey." Amanda said, Dianne and Enzo knowing that she had been fighting with Samoa Joe and it was bound to happen sooner or later.
"I had a feeling he pissed off one of the women in Dean's life off by injuring him." Enzo replied before both heard Amanda sniffle as an indication that her nose was stuffed up.
"Mandy, you just be careful now… we think it's possibly a fault in Enzo's immunization that let him fall sick, and if I'm not mistaken, the two of you got them only days apart, close enough to have received the same batch." Dianne responded.
"I'll try my best… and Enzo, get better, okay? Buddy, you had us scared to death." Amanda said as the screen was turned to Enzo, who noticed that her long bluish black hair was still in a messy ponytail.
"I'll be good as new before you know it, kiddo… and don't pick fights with Joe." Enzo replied.
"The guy's being a crazy asshole to Renee and then when I tried to tell him to leave her alone, he switched that attitude onto me!" Amanda responded, feeling Finn's right arm wrap around her.
"Better you than her, but then again better me than you. Actually, better no one than anyone if the world would ever be so simple." Enzo replied.
"Joe just needs to learn that Mandy won't be pushed around, she smacked him really hard when he crouched down and got in her face and then I hit him." Finn responded, Dianne and Enzo smirking.
"Good on both of you… but be careful and rest up." Enzo said before the video call ended, Finn setting the tablet down and feeling Amanda rest her head on his shoulder. Helping her lie down, Finn pulled the covers over Amanda and tucked her in.
"Better, love?" Finn asked.
"Much better… and I thought Miami rarely dropped below 70°." Amanda answered, Finn knowing that the West Newbury native had lost all invulnerability to temperatures below tropical ones after living in Florida for 12 ½ years. "This started with Strowman getting sick on Friday, right? He seems to have gotten rid of his virus." She said, covering her mouth to muffle a loud sneeze but Finn noticed it from the way it made her ribcage and upper body rattle for a second and carefully pulled her to him after she lowered her hand.
"Bloody painful sometimes, sneezes. And as for the temperature… I thought it would never even come close to this area back in Ireland and England, but then there we were a few years back on a hosepipe ban as half the water supplies dried up in the heat." Finn said as he held onto Amanda.
"That was something I never thought I'd see, UK temps nearly rivaling Florida during the summer." Amanda replied, trying to keep her eyes open.
But eventually, she fell asleep and Finn carefully ran his fingers through her messy hair.
Down in the lobby, Seth jumped slightly as Joe slammed his hands on the table.
"Get your Shield sister under control!" Joe growled.
"She split your lip or punch you?" Seth asked, noticing the split lip and black eye that the former NXT Champion had.
"They were both her! And then Finn punched me!" Joe responded, Seth raising an eyebrow.
"Me and her don't get along lately, we're trying to… but she wouldn't go at you without provocation first. Or at anyone, for that matter." Seth replied.
"Okay so she said that I should stop taunting Renee during the shows, that it's bordering on personal… I went and said that Mandy wouldn't know the line between personal and professional if it bit her." Joe explained, Seth rearing his fist back and punching Joe in the nose. "Damn it!" He yelled, resetting his nose.
"You injured Dean, you don't think Mandy or Renee have a right to be upset?! One's like his sister, the other's his wife!" Seth shouted as they stood up.
"Hey, I was in Mandy's life way before you or Dean or Renee! If anything, I'm surprised she's not angry at you anymore for injuring Finn back in 2016!" Joe responded.
"The hell is going on down here?!" Renee asked after she ran over to Seth.
"Stay out of this!" Joe responded angrily, Renee turning and slapping him.
"You shut your damn mouth, you have no right acting like you didn't do anything wrong! And from now on, get Charly to interview you because I've had it with your snide remarks and you running your mouth about injuring my husband!" Renee yelled, Joe startled because he had never once heard the blonde yell at anyone.
"Well damn it, calm down!... I get it though, I gave your hubby a beating so you're backing off from me, how very sweet!" Joe responded, halfway turning sarcastic.
"Dean did nothing to deserve it and now I understand why Natalya was angry when you injured Tyson's spine! There's such a thing as protecting each other in that ring… and I see why Mandy regrets vouching for you after that." Renee said before leaving, Seth following her. "Why was she ever his friend to begin with?" She responded, suppressing her tears and Seth hugging the woman who had become like a second sister to him.
"You've got to remember that we didn't know Mandy back them… maybe Joe was a different person to her." Seth said quietly after they let go.
"I hate being on the road without Dean, it feels so wrong." Renee replied, brushing her tears away.
"I know, Renee. I miss him being on the road too." Seth whispered.
The two also knew that things would get crazier.
