Weeks ago, had you told Zack he would be hanging out with Kaly, he would've laughed in your face, and asked you where you could find her, because he hadn't seen her in years. But now, it wasn't that far of a stretch. He actually looked forward to running into her at work. She had been used a few times for Fandango's valet...but they had decided his dancing gimmick didn't meet her lack of equilibrium; her dancing his style was like a new born fawn walking. Zack himself wasn't really being used all that much himself. So when it came to having down time backstage, they both had available time frames. Which they in turn were filling up with music suggestions for the other, and actually talked about books. Not that he didn't read; it had just been a while. A few that she had suggested, he hadn't been able to put down.

It had been a total of 9 weeks since they had walked back into each other's lives, and they figured it was safe to exchange numbers for text messaging purposes. She had warned him though, that she didn't sleep a lot at night, so if she got bored and wasn't tweeting on her personal account, she more than likely would text him until he fell asleep on her. Being the good guy he was, he really had tried not to fall asleep on her. But the few times he had, she gave him a little bit of crap for it the next day after he'd texted her, but the crapping around didn't last long. It was all in good fun.

Zack got out of the shower and dried off. He put on his boxers and walked out of the bathroom, where he'd placed his other clothes on the edge of the bed. A short sleeved t-shirt and blue jeans, along with some tennis shoes. It works, he thought, as he looked in the mirror across the room from him. He grabbed his bags and went to open the door, to be really startled by just exactly who was standing outside his doorway.

Dolph.

"Hey man, what's up?"

"So you and the new girl have been hanging out alot lately."

Zack ran his hand through his hair. "Yeah, Kaly's pretty cool."

Dolph chuckled. "Yeah, she's cool. She's also very easy on the eyes. I knew I had seen her before. Then I did the math...dude. I can't believe I didn't catch that when it was going on."

"I have no idea what you are talking about."

Dolph laughed again. "Zack..you and Curt were with Adam. Adam was dating Vickie..and Kaly is Vickie's god child. She didn't hang around backstage that long, but when she did, she was around you and Hawkins alot, if memory serves me correctly."

Zack could feel his insides about to explode. Dolph was close to the truth, and Dolph had become one of his best pals lately, and not telling him about his past with Kaly probably wasn't considered very "bro-like".

Dolph studied Zack's face. "So it happened?"

Zack shuffled his feet. "Yeah it happened. But the past is in the past, and we're both matured from those days, and it'd probably be best that we keep it quie-"

Dolph cut him off. "Look man. I'm not going to say anything. But," he continued, "if you're interested in getting cozied in again..I can possibly make it so that Vickie isn't around...or keep her some how occupied. She likes younger guys..and there are some around here younger than me."

Zack looked at Dolph. He could possibly be onto something here. Then again, for that to actually work, Kaly would have to be interested again. He sighed.

Dolph noticed the heaviness in Zack's sigh. "Look, we don't know that it will work. But we don't know that it won't."

Zack looked at the ground. "Yeah, you got a point. It's just that...a lot of things were left unsaid, and I'm not exactly sure she's willing to visit the past."

Dolph put his hand on Zack's shoulder. "If she meant that much to you back then...it's worth a shot."

Traffic was backed up. Vickie had caught a ride with someone else, she had to go in early. Kaly had ran into Emma in the hallway, and asked her if she wanted to ride with her. Emma was very likeable, bubbly, and didn't make her want to pull her hair out. And she loved having fun. So for Kaly, this was a win/win.

They were stuck in traffic, listening to a mixed cd, because Kaly still liked mixed cds. She wouldn't convert completely to mp3 players. She and Emma were dancing in the front seat. She was sure that other passengers in surrounding cars were wondering if they were having problems getting body parts to function, but Emma didn't look like she cared, and she knew she didn't.

"Hey, you're phone is going off." Emma pointed down.

Kaly looked at it and saw it was a text. Traffic was still backed up and it didn't seem to be changing anytime soon, but she knew the minute she picked it up, the light would change, and horns all around her would honk, and she would yell out the window. Obscenities. Harsh ones. Ones she wasn't really sure Emma was ready to hear. They had 10 minutes until they would reach their destination, so she could wait.

As soon as she could, she took off. The two women were singing along to some old Katy Perry when they pulled into the parking lot behind the building. John and Nicole were getting there at the same time. They got out of the car and waved at them, and they waved back from their black SUV. That was a big automobile. The four started talking and then Emma started in on her bubbliness, which got John and Nikki talking some as well. Kaly remembered a few moments later that her phone had went off in the car. She dug in her pocket and saw the text. She checked it seeing it was from Zack. One line: Can we talk?

Talk. About what exactly, she wondered. She didn't want to just walk away from present company, that'd be so rude. But if she waited for him to get there and people saw them talking and heading into the stadium together, there would be talk. And talk would get to more talk. Which would eventually get to Vickie. And Stephanie.

She messaged him back: Where at?

John and Nikki were talking about the latest trip they took on John's plane, and Emma was listening, attentively. Kaly stuffed her phone in her pocket, and Nikki just looked at her.

"That doesn't look like a happy face. What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Why would anything be wrong?"

"You're wrinkling your eyebrows, which is something you don't normally do. Unless you're thinking real hard."

Moment when she wished Nikki wouldn't be so damn alert count 45. "It's nothing," she said, laughing it off.

"Mhmmm" Nikki looked at John, who shrugged.

"What is that?" Kaly asked.

John cleared his throat. "Well, maybe it's Vickie. Been giving you a hard time lately?"

"Uh, no more than normal." She laughed.

They were laughing when Zack pulled up to the back in his rental car, riding with one of the rookies he'd took under his wing. Teaching him things he had learned. Kaly noticed them getting out of the car, and thought that Zack was really nice for taking his time with this kid.

Zack noticed her looking at him, and gave her a slight smirk. Andy, the rookie, walked off into the building as Zack made his way over to John, Nikki, Emma, and Kaly.

"What's good with you, man?" John asked. He noticed the exchanged glances from Kaly and Zack when Zack walked up, and he was actually hoping he wasn't the only one. Lately, these two kids had been hanging out, and he could see that Zack was starting to get a vibe about him. A good one. Mostly after he'd been around Kaly. He didn't know what Kaly was thinking, or if she was thinking anything at all, but he saw the far off look Zack would get from time to time. The very same far off look he would get from the beginning of his and Nikki's relationship. Zack was a good guy; he deserved a good girl. She acted like a good girl, but there are some things he saw out of Zack when she left. She hurt him, bad. It took him a while to talk to any other girls after she left, and his friend Curt was the only one who was able to dig him out of that hole.

"Not a whole lot, how's it going John?" Zack answered.

"Good man. Good. Trying to keep a certain lady in order." he looked at Nikki and smirked, who twirled her head and just gave him a loving smile, then shook her head.

"Oh please. We know the truth to that statement, I keep you in order. If I didn't, you'd be in some sort of trouble or prank." She looked lovingly at him as he smiled at her, bringing out his dimples.

Kaly noticed the two of them. She liked how they were around each other. It was adorable. She wanted that. That attainable, adoring love. The kind that seemed so far away from her, no matter how hard she tried. She was honestly starting to believe it wasn't in the cards for her to find an honest to goodness relationship that lasted for years.

Then their eyes met. They glanced at each other at the same time, and their eyes met. Fuck. Really? Did you have to look at him right when he was looking at you? Kaly asked herself.

Zack cleared his throat. He didn't expect her to look at him, and when he caught her eyes when their glances met, he couldn't help but smile on the inside.

He started to walk towards the stadium, and Kaly would have waited for him to be inside before she started to move towards the back entrance, but John suggested that they all head inside and make the night entertaining. So they all started towards the building together. And Kaly thought about this being a moment when she really really appreciated John's way of thinking. There were alot of them, since she and Nikki had started talking some backstage. Not much. But Nikki definitely had a bad rep that didn't fit the girl that stood in front of her.

She and Emma walked behind John and Nikki. As soon as she got in the door, she saw Zack talking to someone in the hallway, then she noticed it was Stephanie. Stephanie had her head turned away from her, and then Zack motioned his head in the opposite direction, causing Stephanie to turn around and spot Kaly.

"There you are," she said, walking up to her. "I have to talk to you about work. We may have a position for you now."

Kaly just looked at her. She honestly felt like she couldn't breathe. She felt like she could only nod.

"Wow." She laughed nervously, and glanced down at the floor.

"Its between two superstars, so I need to know how exactly to do this."

"Okay," Kaly nodded.

Stephanie looked at Zack, then looked at Kaly.

"It's between this guy, and Dolph Ziggler."

Kaly just stopped. Oh wow."

Stephanie nodded. "I'll try you out with each of them to see which one you'll get along better with."

Kaly nodded, understandingly. "Yeah, of course."

Stephanie gave them both a look and smiled as she walked away, only to turn back around and say, "Your first one will be tonight. You and Zack will be going out there together. I will be watching." She turned on her heel and walked off.

Kaly looked at Zack, who looked blankly at her.

"So you wanted to talk to me?"

"Yeah, I did. But being as we have been talked to by Stephanie, that mostly..touched base..with the subject at hand."

"Oh. Okay."

Zack started to walk away, then turned around. "Question, though. How would you feel, you know? Working close to me? Or working close to Dolph? Which one do you think you'd like better?"

Kaly looked at him, puzzled. "Honestly, I'd like working with you more; I know you better. I mean, I could work with Dolph, if Stephanie decides that that is best."

Zack scratched his head. "There's something you should know about Dolph. He figured it out."

Kaly just looked at him blankly. "Where is he? Do I need to threaten him or something for him to keep his mouth shut?" She started off in a direction to go confront Dolph.

Zack pulled her arm, which caught her off guard. She looked at him puzzled.

"He's not going to say anything. He's already promised he would stay quiet."

"Hmmmm. Wow."

Zack nodded. "Yeah."

"So are you ready to go out there and show them your Zack Ryderness?"

He looked at her, raising an eyebrow. "Zack Ryder-ness?!"

"You know, it's you, with -ness at the end? Oh, don't tell me you haven't seen You, Me, & Dupree?"

"I have, I just never pegged you as someone to take advice from an Owen Wilson movie."

"Then, my friend, you have a lot to learn. Cause some of those movies can be quite inspirational sometimes."

"Inspiring? Hmmm."

"Yeah." They looked at each other and laughed.

Zack looked at her, and said, "Alright, let's get you over to Sandra. I'm sure they'll have something we can use. Even if you wore jeans and a t-shirt, you'd look fine."

Kaly just looked at him. "Thanks." She didn't know whether to blush, or to take that as a 'yeah it'll do' moment, so she just accepted it, and left it with that.