A/N: Heyo, thanks to calwitch, Raquel the writer, and Moxie Steele for your kind words, and to everyone who followed/favorited, I'm glad you like it so far! And even if you didn't do any of those things, I appreciate y'all checking it out.

The stuff I mention Seth liking is stuff I've grabbed from interviews or other stuff he's said.


Two weeks into the job and things were going great. She got along with most everyone, didn't have to spend much time with anyone she didn't, and most importantly she was good at it. She walked into a common room where the Superstars and Divas could kill time when they weren't on camera, looking for John Cena.

"Hey Johnny, you have five minutes before you need to make your entrance, show me that hustle you're always going on about! Dean, your match is in 20, if you're not dressed and ready for it I'm gonna kick your ass," Chloe threatened, kicking his legs off of the table he was resting them on.

"Hey, hostile work environment!" he scowled, rubbing the spot where her foot had connected.

"You're a wrestler, your entire job is the definition of a hostile work environment," she muttered, crossing John off her list as he apologized for being late and ran towards gorilla.

"Oh hey, me an' Roman gotta do some press bullshit tomorrow and we'll be flyin' into Dallas late afternoon, so you're gonna have to find your own way there," he said as he stood up to head to the locker room. "Sorry darlin'."

"No big, I'll just pick up a rental on my own," she said, walking out with him and turning the opposite direction to find Dolph. She had her face buried in her schedule to figure out how to make up for a match that had gotten cut short when she felt herself collide painfully with someone. She winced, looking up and opening her mouth to apologize. She froze when she saw who it was.

"You seem to have a thing for banging into me, princess," Seth smirked.

Chloe fought the blush that threatened to bloom on her cheeks, sidestepping him to keep moving down the hall. "I don't have time for you, I have work to do."

"Hold on a second." He put a hand gently on her shoulder, sending an unwanted warm sensation into her stomach. "What time do I need to be ready to go out?"

"Uh... 8:45. You're not due to fight, so leave your shirt on," she told him after checking her schedule, shrugging out of his touch and continuing down the hall to find Dolph.

"You sure you want that?" he called after her, snickering. Obviously she hadn't suppressed her red cheeks as much as she'd hoped. She ignored him, ignored the voice inside her head asking 'yeah, are you?', ignored the sensation that continued to pool in her stomach, and threw herself back into her work.


The next morning Chloe woke up late. Dean and Roman usually wanted to hit the road early so that they'd have time to hit the gym before the show, but traveling without them meant she had a couple extra hours to sleep in. She grabbed her bag and went down to the lobby, stopping at the desk to check out.

"You gave away my rental car?" she heard a familiar voice having a very agitated phone call next to the door. "I know it's not your fault...credit is great but it doesn't help me get to my destination...whatever, you too."

Chloe sighed, watching Seth end the call on his phone and put his head into his hands. She wrestled internally with herself for a minute before her better nature had her walking over to him. "Problem?"

He looked up, doing a double take when he saw who was asking. "The rental company gave my car away and it was the last one they had. Everyone else is already gone and all of the flights this afternoon are booked. I don't know how I'm gonna get to the show."

She chewed on the inside of her cheek, staring down at him before making a decision. "Come on, then."

"What?" he said, clearly thrown off.

"Come, get into my car, I'll give you a lift. Move it before I change my mind."

"...okay. Thanks princ- Chloe," he said, jogging to keep up with her.

"My job depends on making sure that you all get to where you need to go. I'd be a pretty shit employee if I left you to rot in Oklahoma," she told him, unlocking the trunk and throwing her bag in. "Don't read anything more into it. I still think you suck hard for stabbing Dean and Roman in the back."

He was quiet as he got into the car, buckling his seatbelt and getting comfortable. "I was just doing what was best for me."

"I'm not thinkin' it was worth beating up your friends with a fuckin' steel chair, but whatever. I'm not here to grill you on your decisions. I don't much care," she said, letting her ire take over for anything else she might feel.

They drove in silence for several minutes, Chloe starting to regret offering him a ride, when he spoke again. "So what's your story?"

She eyed him for a moment before turning her attention back to the road. "What's it to you?"

"I figure it's preferable to sitting here in awkward silence for four hours, but if you'd prefer that then by all means, be my guest. It's your car."

She sighed, clicking the cruise control on and relaxing a little bit. "Grew up in the same area as Dean. He's a couple years older than me but we gravitated to each other 'cause we both liked wrestling. My family was a bit better off than his so he came over to watch it sometimes and my parents always treated him like family. I'm not much of a fighter, though, so I didn't follow him when he went off to be a wrestler. I went through college for communications and started workin' managing people. Ended up here 'cause Dean knew I was between jobs and your people needed someone."

"Yeah, he's good at looking out for people," Seth said softly.

Chloe glanced over at him again, surprised to see him sporting a moody expression as he stared out the window. She shook her head, turning her attention back to the road. 'Well good, he should feel regret. If that's what that is.'

They were quiet for several more minutes, Chloe stalwartly ignoring the pensive look on Seth's face, before he touched her rearview mirror ornament and spoke up again. "There's only supposed to be one snitch in a game of Quidditch, y'know. Doesn't make a lot of sense for there to be two of them together."

"Wouldn't have pegged you for a Harry Potter fan," she replied, her eyes widening slightly at his comment.

"There are probably a lot of things about me that would surprise you," he replied, putting his hand down. "Why do you have this in a rental, anyway?"

"Makes it easier to find the car in a parking lot. Besides, it's like having a little piece of home with me, 'specially if my friends aren't around." He didn't say anything at that, just looked a little sad again, and she tried to keep the conversation going to ignore that. "Why weren't your hobgoblin buddies around to chauffeur you around? They seem eager to jump up and do your bidding."

"I don't travel with them if I can help it. You think I wanna spend anymore time with those too than is absolutely necessary? You've met them, right?" Chloe laughed at that, and Seth turned to study her. "You look nice like that, you know."

Her breath left her chest all at once. "Like what?" she asked carefully.

"Smiling. Happy. Non-hostile, even, if I don't want to push my luck."

She wasn't sure how to respond to that. She swallowed her initial scathing remark, deciding that there had been enough of those to last the rest of the car ride. Ignoring the comments she didn't have an explanation for had been working for her so far, so she handed him her iPod and said, "The road noise is grating on me, pick somethin' to listen to."

He spent a bit in silence scrolling through her music, before smiling and shaking his head. "You sure you didn't just steal my iPod and call it yours?"

"Whatcha mean?" The movement caught her eye for a moment. 'You don't look too bad when you're smiling, either,' the errant thought ran through her mind before she could squash it. She forced her attention back to the road again, irritated with herself that it was a struggle.

"We seem to have very similar music tastes," he said, putting on Taking Back Sunday's Where You Want To Be and putting the iPod into a cup holder. Seth immediately started enthusiastically singing along, and Chloe couldn't help but smile again. He started motioning for her to join in, and halfway through the first song she gave in, her voice joining his yelling the lyrics and taking them down the highway.


Chloe pulled up in front of the hotel, stopping in the passenger drop-off spot. "I uh, promised I'd pick up Dean and Roman at the airport, so I gotta drop you off here," she said, rubbing the back of her head awkwardly.

"Oh, sure. No problem," he said, seeming just as uncomfortable at the mention of his former friends. His brown eyes met her blue ones, and he gave her a small smile. "Well, thanks for the ride. See you later tonight."

"Yeah. Later," she said. She popped the trunk when he was behind the car so he could grab his bag and drove off when she felt it thud shut. "He's still a dick, road trip karaoke doesn't change that," she muttered, getting back on the freeway towards the airport. 'Is he though? He seemed awfully regretful. Great, now I'm talking to myself. Three hours and I'm already going fuckin' crazy because of him.' She shook her head and pulled off at the airport, spotting Dean and Roman waiting outside of their gate.

"Enjoy your half hour flight?" she asked them when they got into the car.

Dean scoffed. "Whoever scheduled that interview oughta be fired. I thought one of the perks of the modern age is being able to do that shit anywhere and not havin' to pull crap like this."

"That's good coming from the man who refuses to answer his phone or learn how to text," she smirked, heading back to the hotel.

"How was your drive?" Roman asked, spreading out in the back of the car.

She gulped. 'Lying is stupid, nothing good will come of it, just be honest.' "Long. I actually, uh, ended up giving Rollins a ride. Rental car company fucked up and he couldn't get a flight. Heard him yellin' about it when I was checking out."

Dean cocked an eyebrow. "Sounds like the drive sucked worse than our flight. You lock him in the trunk?"

"Talent dying on my watch wouldn't really make me employee of the year," she said dryly, relieved that his reaction was calm.

"He wasn't an asshole to you, was he? If he was I'll go find him an' kick his-"

"It was fine," she interrupted him, stopping him before he got going. "He seemed well aware that I was doing him a favor and acted accordingly. 'Sides, I'm more than capable of takin' care of myself."

She saw Roman nod in approval in the rearview mirror; even if Seth did deserve it, sending Dean after him wasn't the ideal way of handling it. Chloe liked Roman. He was quiet and had a head for when to stop, think, and bide your time, which was a good compliment to Dean's "go in fists flying and think about the consequences never" approach to problems. She pulled up at the hotel for the second time that day and parked the car, making a grab for her bag out of the trunk before having it snatched out of her hands by Roman.

"You'd bite my hand off if I tried to pull that," Dean observed, falling into step beside her.

"Not if it was after I drove three hours and then picked your ass up at the airport, I wouldn't," she replied, shoving him lightly. "'Sides, Roman's not doing it to show off."

"Bullshit he's not."

Roman laughed deeply. "So suspicious, Ambrose. Besides, we're here, so does it really matter either way?"

Chloe opened the door to their hotel room, moving so that the boys could come inside and drop their bags. She could have gotten a separate room from the two of them, but she and Dean had been sharing beds since they were kids, and she didn't mind sleeping on the couch if it got weird. Plus, sleeping by herself in strange places kind of freaked her out, so a hotel couch was preferable to that.

"Hey guys, we got fifteen minutes before we gotta be at the arena, we should get a move on," she told them, changing her shirt and pulling a pair of shorts on over her leggings to make her attire slightly more work-appropriate. She was grateful that Nate hadn't said anything about a dress code, but figured she shouldn't push it.

"What's with the Ziggler shirt, traitor?" Dean asked indignantly as they left the hotel to walk down the street to the arena.

"He's a lot nicer than you are," she replied, causing Roman to laugh loudly. "Get me more than one Dean Ambrose shirt and maybe I'll wear 'em more often, but I'm not gonna do laundry every day just so that I can rep you backstage."

"I'll get you a weeks' worth of Roman Reigns shirts," Roman promised.

"Sure, if you like brawn over brains," Dean quipped.

"Hey!" Roman objected, raising his fist and running after Dean.

"You're just proving my point, brotha!" Dean called behind him as he ran away to avoid Roman. Chloe had to stop because she was laughing so hard that her stomach hurt.


Once they got to the arena they separated so that Chloe could pick up her headset and schedule for the evening. Her job was a lot easier now that she had a better of idea where everyone tended to hang out before the show, but she still liked to stay on top of things in case someone threw her a curve ball. First to go on that night were Randy and Big Show. The Authority had their own schedules to adhere to, with information that hers didn't have, so she didn't have to worry about getting Show. They liked to keep everything compartmentalized so that if the schedule got leaked they could still surprise people, which meant that Chloe never had to directly deal with them. This was fine with her; she knew that Hunter had helped orchestrate Seth's betrayal and wasn't looking forward to crossing paths with him, but Randy had earned their trust again only to stab Seth in the back, so he was alright by her.

She went toward catering, which was usually where people went when they arrived at the arena, to look for Randy and remind him that he was going on first. She found him there having a conversation with Brie Bella over an early dinner. "Hey, Killer? You're up first, so don't eat too much, wouldn't want you getting stomach cramps out there." Chloe had been a fan of his since he was the Legend Killer, so it had become an affectionate nickname once they had become properly acquainted.

He nodded. "Thanks, Chlo. Already on it, just having a salad 'til later."

She smiled gratefully at him, turning to greet Brie. "Hey, Brie. You and Nikki are up at 6:20, I'll come find you guys a little later to make sure you're still on track."

"Thanks, Chloe," Brie smiled at her, picking at a bread roll. "You wanna have lunch with us next week before the show?"

"Sounds great, let me know the details later," Chloe said happily, glad that she was making friends in the company. Dean and Roman were great, but it was nice to have a break from the testosterone every now and then. Brie nodded, and Chloe went to grab something to snack on before the night picked up and she got busy.

She picked at a muffin as she studied the schedule, trying to memorize it so that she could move more efficiently, when a shadow loomed over her. She looked up and was surprised to see Seth there, looking down at her. "Uh, hey," she said slowly, putting her papers down.

"Hey Chloe," he said, causing her to cock an eyebrow. He was being nicer than usual and she didn't trust him. "I just wanted to say thanks again for getting me here. I would have been screwed without you."

"No problem."

"Look, uh, I-" he started to say, before being interrupted by Joey and Jamie.

"Hey boss, Hunter wants to go over some strategy for later. What are you doing talking to the help?" Joey said disdainfully as they flanked him. Chloe narrowed her eyes at him.

"...nothing. Let's go," Seth said, turning away without looking at her.

Chloe stared daggers in his back as he left the room. 'So much for not being a total dick,' she scoffed, shaking her head to get Seth out of her mind as she turned back to her work.


The night was getting close to an end and Seth was in the main event, as had become the convention for the past few weeks, this time in a match against Roman. She had already found Roman and told him to get ready; he had nodded and told her that he'd see her after the show. She weaved through the hallways to Seth's private locker room, a recent upgrade for him. She knocked hard twice on the door, waiting for him to open it so that she wouldn't catch him in any more states of undress.

"What is it?" she heard from the other side of the door before it opened. "Oh, hey-"

"The help would like you to know that your match starts soon," she said stiffly.

"Chloe, wait, I didn't-"

"I don't wanna hear it, Rollins," she snapped. "You don't gotta be nice to me just 'cause I did you a favor. I told you, it was part of my job. Don't put yourself out on my account."

Seth looked like he wanted to say something, before Joey and Jamie came up behind her just as Dean came from the other direction "What's up, darlin'? The goon squad giving you trouble?" he asked, stopping next to her.

"Back off, Ambrose," Joey said, cracking his knuckles.

Jamie went to stand in front of Seth, acting as a barrier between him and Dean and Chloe. "This trash bothering you, boss?"

"No," Seth said, his face becoming closed off. She gave him a hard look as for the second time that evening he stood by silently while his security insulted her.

Dean bristled next to her. "Lettin' your security trolls threaten a lady, real nice, Rollins. I keep thinkin' you've hit rock bottom but you're still there with your pickaxe determined to prove me wrong."

"It doesn't matter," Chloe said, still glaring at Seth. "I'm not worried about them, or about Justin Bieber here who can't win a fight without getting three of his buddies to help him out. I'm done here."

"Nice to see you too, princess," he snapped at her back.

"You good?" Dean asked her, slinging an arm around her shoulder.

"Yeah. Fuck him," she spat, shredding her schedule for something to do with her hands.

"Fuck him is right. Forget about his garbage and let's go wait for Roman and get the hell out of here."

Chloe knew that he was right, but she couldn't stop herself from feeling hurt at how Seth had acted. She had thought maybe there was something to his personality other than being a complete asshole, but he had torn any misconceptions about that down thoroughly. She leaned into Dean as they went to wait for Roman, doing her best to purge Seth from her mind.