Last night, NXT Taping…

"Calm down, Finn… I got knocked down, okay? It's not the first time it's happened." Amanda says, trying to calm Finn down as he held a gel pack onto the left side of her face… during their six person mixed tag match, she had been kicked off the apron by an aggressive Alexa and her face hit the side of the steel steps.

She didn't lose consciousness and wasn't bleeding or disoriented… but the ref stopped the match and called it a draw, which had angered Alexa.

Aestrid was walking around and walked over to them, asking what had happened.

"Alexa got a bit too angry… well, more so than usual." Finn says.

"He's worrying too much…" Amanda says, trying not to let the pain show but Aestrid could see through the facade like Finn could.

"Sometimes I think that I'd pay to see her get a well deserved boot up the crack." Aestrid says, having long liked Alexa no more than they did.

"When Hunter said that Alexa was looking for someone to help her learn from the older days when she first signed with the company, I should've told the old man to find someone else… stiff shots every once in a while, I can understand, it's happened before. Adrenaline runs high in that ring. Using an opponent as a punching bag, that's a different-" Amanda says.

Amanda stopped talking and muffled a painful groan, Finn lightly pressing the gel pack back onto her face… and Aestrid left, grabbing Alexa by her right arm when she found the blonde and red ombre haired diva and dragging her down the hall.

"What the hell?!" Alexa demanded after Aestrid finally let go.

"Yeah, my thoughts exactly when I see you like a savage beast out there on Amanda!" Aestrid says, her eyes narrowed and angered.

"Savage?! Reckless, maybe." Alexa says.

"What I don't get is that you know her neurological history and you targeted her head anyway and for what reason?! You knew Finn was gonna lose it!" Aestrid said.

"Yep… and every moment was worth the outcome." Alexa said with a smile, a smile that said she really hadn't even put any thought to Amanda's neurological health.

The sickening smash and shrill scream that echoed made Finn and Amanda jump.

"Oh, damn…" Amanda mutters.

"She ain't a wrestler with us but she can sure hit like one…" Finn says, looking up towards the doorway.

"Dean still hasn't forgiven her for giving him a black eye but he scared her with that Freddy Krueger mask." Amanda says as Aestrid walked in and closed the door. "Any blood?"

"Nope." Aestrid says.

Present time…

Amanda hadn't counted on a headache that was near migraine strength, even after the stress from last night… when Aestrid walked into the room after Finn opened the door, she saw Amanda hiding her head under the covers.

"Expected nothing less." Aestrid says, turning down the lights brightness to weaken the stress it would put on Amanda's eyes.

"Thank you…" Amanda said, Aestrid noticing that Amanda couldn't fully open her mouth from how she sounded and walked over… she pulled the covers down gently and saw the split lip and bruises added to the one from the match.

Unlike Alexa's blow to Amanda's face, this one was much more forceful and caused by someone bigger.

"Baron Corbin is a raging asshole at times." Finn says, pressing a warm compress to Amanda's face and lightly brushing her chestnut curls back.

"He loves Mandy to death, why would he hurt her?" Aestrid asked.

"I turned up at his hotel room after a fight between Seth and myself… he slammed the door in my face and it hit me so hard that there was blood pouring from my mouth." Amanda says.

"That might explain the improvised company meeting in the lobby." Aestrid says.

"Wait, what? What the hell's wrong with everyone, did we piss them off that much?" Amanda asks.

"I guess so. I was about to go and listen up but stopped, there's a limit to how far I lean into things not about me." Aestrid says, Amanda having not heard the story behind that part of her but Finn remembering it, how Aestrid had once listened in too far to the wrong business.

Amanda pulled herself up to where she could sit and saw her phone, seeing a text from Enzo.

'Tiny, this is madness!'

'Are they tearing mine and Finn's reputations to shreds in there?' Amanda replied.

'That's one way of putting it, it's as though you two just trashed the President's office or something down here!'

'Fucking crazies. I don't know how you and Liv deal with them.' Amanda replies.

A knock at the door made her put her phone down and try to stand up, Finn stopping her as Aestrid opened the door and let Sami in… Sami's eyes widened in horror when he saw Amanda.

"Damn. Baron, you better get your ass in here and apologize!" Sami says, shouting the last part down the hall.

"Bite me, Sami!" Baron shouted back.

"I don't want a damn apology from the Lone Wolf, he can go back to Boxing!" Amanda says, Sami closing the door.

"Damn, it's really bad this time." Sami says, locking the door before he and Amanda hugged for a few seconds.

Amanda stretched back out after she and Aestrid hugged, Finn lying down next to Amanda before Aestrid and Sami left.

"I ain't seen her so damn down since The Shield split…" Sami says.

"It won't be the last time… but it doesn't make it at all right regardless." Aestrid says, carefully rubbing her left wrist as it ached, her having fallen on it when she misjudged a slope on her skateboard a few days before.

"You should get that checked out, where's your splint the ER doc gave you?" Sami asks, noticing the absence of the black splint.

"Somewhere in my room… the thing was digging into my arm." Aestrid says, looking over her wrist and Sami noticing how her tendons and veins on the inner side of her wrist were showing up a lot more than normal.

The two headed towards the room and heard a conversation.

"I don't think it's anyone's business, she's been kicked down a lot in life and he makes her feel safe and stronger." Colin says, Carmella nodding at that.

"Mandy's a good person, why don't people see that, babe?" Carmella says as the two hugged.

"At least someone's right in the head." Aestrid says.

"Yeah." Sami says as they walked into the room.

In their room, Amanda was struggling to keep the tears held back and Finn knew it… he wrapped his arms around her and she buried her head into his shoulder and let them fall.

"There are times I feel like I never left high school…" Amanda says.

"I get you there… even I think that sometimes." Finn says, lightly running his right hand along her back.

Amanda sniffled, feeling comforted by his touch… but it didn't help like it usually did.