A/N: A sequel? Really? YES. YES REALLY. Here is the sequel to All That's Left of Me, featuring the lovely Chelsea Sweetly and Roman Reigns himself. Here, we will introduce more friends and family. You're welcome.
Don't be shy, let me know if you love it or hate it, if you want me to stop writing or continue. Your continued support makes me smile.
"For the hundredth time, I said I wanted cobalt blue! This blue looks like...I don't know, a few shades brighter than navy. Please have the proper color swatch emailed to me tomorrow morning," Chelsea was growing increasingly frustrated with her wedding planner, a just-out-of college woman who was definitely talented but also still learning the ropes and limits. She didn't mean to get all bridezilla-y, but her wedding was going to be beautiful; sunflowers and cobalt blue, white, and black lining the aisle. Hell if anyone was going to jeopardize something she'd always dreamed of when she was a girl.
Frustrated, Chelsea began to rake her hand through her long, black curls, wishing she could just rip it out. Who would have thought this would be such a pain in the ass?
"Baby girl, how are you handling?" Roman wrapped his muscled arms around his woman, surprising her with a sweet kiss on the temple. He was home with her for the weekend, getting prepared for Sunday night's Money In The Bank Pay-Per-View. Chelsea had to admit; though she was thrilled that he was one of the top guys, she was shocked that he still wasn't quite there yet. A year ago, she thought for sure he'd been holding the gold, but in reality he hadn't held it at all. She was still very proud of him, constantly directing him in the right direction with his career.
Chelsea, on the other hand, was appearing in a few episodes of a popular sitcom, so her character was "injured" until the filming of those concluded. Stephanie McMahon had also allowed an extra week off from work so that she could get her wedding situation under control, able to spend a little bit of more time focusing on details and be more involved.
"Oh, Ro. This girl...she is fantastic, but so...I don't know."
"She's trying her best, beautiful. And besides, no matter what happens, at the end of the day, you're stuck with me forever. So cobalt blue, baby blue, eggshell blue...you're mine," he teased her, pulling on one of her ringlets and let it bounce back up.
"I know," Chelsea responded, trying to cool her tone. "I just don't want it to look like it was decorated for a senior prom."
Roman laughed, slipping his arm around her waist and guiding her towards the patio of their home. He poured her a glass of Moscato, handing it over with a sly smile.
"Mr. Reigns, are you trying to get me tipsy and take advantage of me?" Chelsea giggled as she took the stem of the glass.
"Darling, I hardly need you to be tipsy," he responded, pouring a glass for himself.
"Oh, is that so?" she responded, clinking glasses with him. She watched him out of the corner of her eye, wanting to throw him on to their California king-sized bed and teach him what it really meant to be taken advantage of.
She considered pouncing when Roman's cellphone began to ring, something that had been going on more and more lately. Unfortunately, it was always horrendous timing.
"Sorry, Chels. I've got to grab this," he reached into his pocket, winking at her.
"It's fine," she shrugged, reaching into her back pocket to get her own out again. Setting her glass down, she sent a quick text to AJ, reminding her that she had a dress fitting scheduled tomorrow. While AJ obviously wouldn't be able to get from her home in Chicago to the Florida boutique, she still needed her friend's opinion. They'd scheduled part of the fitting to FaceTime, but Chelsea was still deeply saddened that her first real friend from her return to the roster couldn't be with her.
AJ had since retired very early, following a lawsuit filed against her husband by the WWE medical staff. Though AJ claimed she was tired of traveling and wanted to spend time doing normal things with her husband, Chelsea still suspected that wasn't the entire reason. She couldn't get the other woman to admit that she missed the hectic schedule and, of course, the fans. But with the prestige and love AJ had for the company, she had to have had a little pain in leaving. Chelsea believed that in order to protect herself from some of the WWE's very strict guidelines, AJ left so she couldn't be held as any kind of collateral in Punk's court case.
Now, this left Chelsea in a very weird predicament, all over again. She hadn't quite made nice with Paige, who had ended up breaking up with Dean very shortly into their relationship. He'd told Roman that it wasn't a big deal, and had since set his sights on a pretty interviewer. Nikki and Brie Bella were busy running the world. Nattie had been managing her husband still, but hadn't been doing much work in the ring lately. Eva Marie was training in NXT, hoping to become the next big thing. Naomi was spending a great deal of her time home, caring deeply for her husband's children.
This often left Chelsea hanging around Roman's locker room, bored to tears. She'd heard that a few familiar faces from the NXT women's division would be making their way to Monday Night Raw, but who could be sure? After AJ retired, the divas division on the main roster took a hit, and even the fans were beginning to notice the women were slotted in less than five minute matches, often resulting in a small package ending...literally and figuratively.
However, during one of her many lonely adventures backstage, she did meet one girl that she admittedly quite liked. Hallie was a pretty, quirky girl. She actually worked with the costume design team on NXT, but was currently filling in while the head seamstress, Belinda, was away due to her hip surgery. Hallie could put together a design in an unbelievably short amount of time, and shyly admitted to Chelsea that she often made her own clothes.
From there, they began to speak more and more, and she opened up after a few attempts and prods by Chelsea. She'd hoped to one day have her own clothing line, but in the meantime, she really enjoyed being with the WWE. She was only 24, but had already had a slew of internships under her belt. Chelsea had asked her to personally design her ring attire for her comeback following the wedding. Chelsea Sweetly's character needed more development, and now that Paige was considered the anti-diva, it was time to find a different gimmick. Chelsea had a phone meeting scheduled with the talent relations team tomorrow, yet another thing she was not looking forward to. The creative team had thrown awful ideas her way in the past, but the latest was putting her as a manager for a floundering tag team known as The Ascension. She could hardly contain her excitement to hear the latest plan...not.
So, hopefully Hallie had come up with an idea. Any idea. Because the last thing Chelsea wanted or needed to be involved in was a shitty love triangle.
"Sorry about that, beautiful," Roman had returned from his phone call, distracting Chelsea from her creative team woes. "Now, where were we?" he gently kissed the nape of her bare neck, sending a chill down her spine. Of course, as soon as she turned to face her future husband, her own cell phone began to ring. Groaning, she glanced at the display screen, having a hard time reading it from the sun's bright beams.
Fucking Dean!
"Sorry, Ro. It might be important," she rolled her eyes playfully as he made a pouty face. She didn't tell him who was calling, because she knew that Roman was still kind of tip-toeing around their friendship. She didn't intend for him to get jealous, but she could certainly understand why he might let that feeling creep in. After all, Dean had nearly changed the dynamic of her relationship with Roman completely, deciding to try to swoop in and be her knight in shining armor when she already found one in his best friend.
"Hey, Dean-o," she answered when she was out of earshot.
"Jesus, Chels. You take long enough to answer, or what?"
"Shut up. What's going on? Is everything okay?"
"I should be asking you, Miss Bride to Be," Dean hardly hid the distaste in his tone. Chelsea wanted to say something about it, but instead pretended that she didn't hear him. She had already made up her mind on this ordeal, and no matter what Dean wanted, it simply wasn't meant to be.
"Honestly? Planning a wedding blows. On top of that, my maid of honor literally lives across the country," Chelsea bit her lip, immediately wondering if her old friend Maria had remembered to e-mail both Chelsea and the wedding planner the list of RSVP responses.
As if Dean read her mind, he asked how Maria was doing. "I haven't spoken to her much at all. She must be 19 or so now. Bet she's a spitting image of Allison," he suddenly seemed distant, as if recollecting his deceased ex-fiancee.
But that was exactly why Chelsea had asked Lennon's baby sister to do the honors. Since the one person that helped Chelsea change her entire life was taken from the world far too early and tragically, it seemed only right that Maria could be there with them. AJ was standing up in the wedding, along with her brother's wife, Tamina Snuka, and Naomi. Chelsea's mother, whom she had a very rocky relationship with, had declined her invitation altogether, reminding her of the life she could have had. "With a proper husband" she had written in her short, snippy letter, following Chelsea's own heartfelt apology for leaving her mother behind in pursuit of a life she truly craved.
So, fuck it. The wedding was already half-assed, but it was the buzz of the locker room right now. Pretty much everyone was invited, the huge backyard garden the host of what might turn out to be a few hundred people. So what if Chelsea's whole family wouldn't participate? At least there were truly supportive people everywhere, even with the lack of estrogen in her life.
"Chelsea?" she'd forgotten she was on the phone.
"Sorry, sorry. You just mentioned Lennon, and I just really miss her. She should be part of this," Chelsea responded, her emotions starting to rise.
"I know, Chels. But I promise you, she's watching, and that girl is damn proud of the successes you've scored. It's tough to be detached from that whole situation...and from you."
"Dean..."
"I know, I know. Sorry, too far. But yeah, I actually called because your weird costume friend, Holly? She apparently made a huge splash in Mark's office earlier today. She has a sketch for your new costume, a whole new idea for your character to go with it."
Wow! That was probably some of the best news Chelsea had heard all day. Chelsea Sweetly might not have to cater to a strange anti-Illuminati tag team, but rather be her own person.
"I don't know the details, but you're supposed to call her. She said you guys were on speaking terms, but that you hadn't traded numbers. So I grabbed it from her to pass along, just in case she's a psycho stalker. But anyways, I heard Nattie is super, super jealous over this."
That in itself was music to Chelsea's ears. Although her former best friend and training mate had done her best to destroy Chelsea by bringing in...him...she had been unsuccessful; so by default, Chelsea couldn't help but feel good about any misfortunes in Nat's life. Any bad juju she had now, she certainly deserved it, especially after turning her crazy Total Diva cast against Chelsea, making her return a true re-adjustment.
"Really? That's amazing! Do you know what the idea is?" Chelsea couldn't hide her excitement, feeling a real smile for the first time in a few days.
"Nah, of course she kept it quiet. She really wanted to run it by you before the talent relations team did. But hey, if it's got the attention of the other divas, it's gotta be decent."
"Yeah, of course. Let me grab a pen and paper, I'll jot down her number."
She did, and scribbled the numerals down as Dean read them off from a napkin.
"Thank you for calling me, Dean. I really missed hearing your voice."
"Come back soon, then, and we'll be able to see each other a lot more."
"I know, I know. I just have been doing a lot things for this series...and Ro, he's a handful...getting married is a fucking rainstorm in itself..."
"Ah, Chels. Boo-frickin'-hoo. At least you have someone."
"Dean..."
"Seriously. I mean, I'm still happy for you two. I really and truly am. I can only hope that I can find someone half as amazing as you really are. So I hope Roman knows that."
"Me, too. But what happened with that interviewer? She was really cute."
"Renee? I don't know, we've been seeing each other off and on. I do like her. But we don't have the chemistry quite like I hoped we would. Like Paige, she was fun and different and good in the sack-"
"Dean! Knock it off!"
"Okay, sorry. Oh-hey, Seth just got here, he looks pissed. Probably Leighla again...oh, he made a face, it's definitely Leighla-I'll catch you later, okay, gorgeous?"
"Okay, Dean-o. Don't get your ass kicked."
"Try not to. Don't be a stranger."
"Of course."
As she hung up her phone, she felt...messy. Why was it that even without truly intending to, Dean always had this way about him that made her feel like her future, with Roman, could end up being one giant mistake? At least he brought her good news. She really didn't want to fade away in the midst of the divas division, especially if it was true that a handful of beautiful, young talent would be joining them very soon. Veteran diva, Layla El, was a prime example of disappearing, and Chelsea certainly didn't want that to be her, too.
She called Hallie-not Holly, as Dean had seemingly renamed her, but was sent to voice mail straight away. Frustrated, she texted the number, letting the costume designer know who it was and that she couldn't wait to hear about the ideas she had.