"Hi mom, it's Ali. Just calling to let you know I landed in Tampa okay." Flopping down on the large hotel bed, she sighed and happily kicked off her sandals. "I'm free for the rest of the day aside from a few interviews this evening. Give me a call if you want to talk. Love to you and Daddy. Bye."

Hanging up, Alison was happy that she had set up a wakeup call for later that afternoon. Marko and Hawk, two members of her security team, were in the suite's common room, but they were not in charge of making sure she was awake or on time. They, like every member of her security, were former active service Marines. Where she went, they went as well. It kept her father from fighting against her chosen career and making life difficult.

Her nap lasted a few hours, and Alison woke feeling much more prepared to be wide eyed and happy for the radio interviews she would be giving soon. Dressing for comfort in a black puffy tutu and a blue t-shirt reading "I will never get over the emotional damage British television has caused me", she slipped on a pair of four inch heels with ankle straps and backs that were styled to look like flower petals. Wrangling her massive curls into a thick braid that ended below her hips, she applied some simple makeup and went to collect her escorts.

"Hey guys, we good to go?"

"Yes, ma'am." It was Hawk who spoke as he and Marko stood from their seats and slipped their suit jackets on over their polo shirts and shoulder holsters. He was the newest man on her payroll, and the most recent out of the Corps.

Marko was already calling down to make sure the huge SUV in which they would be traveling would be outside the lobby doors when they reached the ground floor. They rarely had any trouble with overzealous fans or threatening individuals, but they believed in being prepared for the worst. Alison was happy to employ veterans, and was proud that working for her seemed to give them a foothold in returning to normal civilian life.

The drive from the hotel to the radio station took them through the city, and Alison convinced the driver to swing through a drive thru Starbucks for a latte. She sipped her dink and scrolled through her twitter, retweeting interesting tidbits and letting everyone know that she was getting ready to be interviewed live. It would be replayed the next morning as well during rush hour. Marko and Hawk spoke quietly while Hawk scanned the sidewalks in the careful way that Alison had come to associate with vets who had served in the Middle East.

"How are you doing, Hawk?" Slipping her phone into her purse, Alison folded her hands in her lap and focused on the men in the car. "Nightmares any better?"

"I'm doing pretty good, I think. That number you gave me for the shrink really helped."

"Yeah?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I call and talk to this one Doctor twice a week."

"Good, good. I just wanted to check in. If there's ever anything that you need me to do, you just let me know."

"Yes, ma'am."

Marko cleared his throat from where his massive form took up the front seat and dwarfed the driver. "I've been meaning to talk to you about something, Miss Ali."

Alison smiled at the man's nickname for her. She still felt weird about such an enormous black man calling her "Miss", but it had taken her nearly a year to convince him to stop calling her Ma'am or Miss Hedland. She took this as a small victory.

"What's going on?"

"My contract is up at the end of next month, and I don't think I'll be renewing."

Alison frowned. She had never had any of her men opt to leave before. "Why? Is something wrong?"

"No, Miss Ali." He twisted in his seat as much as his wide shoulders allowed in order to smile at the small woman. "I'm going back to school to complete my degree so I can be an architect with my father's company."

"Well, I'm happy you found something you want to do!" Alison smiled. "Had me thinking I had done something you didn't agree with."

"No ma'am, nothing like that at all."

Alison reached forward and patted him on the shoulder. "Well, do me a favor. With you leaving, it means I have an opening. Help me decide whether Buffalo or Irish should take lead?"

"Absolutely."

Looking to Hawk, Alison smiled. "I would've included you, but you're the new guy."

"Not a problem, ma'am."

Alison chuckled and went back to people watching as the car slowly made its way through traffic.

Four hundred miles away from where Alison was greeting radio execs and DJs, Roman was letting the locksmith – an older Latino man named Gorge - into his apartment and pointing out what needed replaced. It was a pain in the ass, but it had to be done. Flipping on the stereo, he scanned through the stations until he heard her name.

"We'll be back with Alison Hedland to discuss all things Alison after her new song!" Screaming guitars and driving drumbeats filled his house before Alison's voice thrummed through the speakers.

"Hey man," Roman got the locksmith's attention. "It's hot as fuck out there. You want a beer?"

The older man smiled widely. "Hell, one wouldn't hurt."

Retrieving one for both of them, he settled onto the couch just as the song ended.

"Welcome back to the Dan and Arty Show! Today, we are speaking to Alison Hedland!"

Alison's voice held the hint of a giggle. "Hello to everyone out there listening!"

"Now, before we get into discussing your new album and upcoming tour, we have got to talk about your recent airport adventures!"

"I was wondering how long it would take you to bring that up." Alison sipped her now refilled latte.

"For those not in the know, Alison tweeted out a selfie of her wearing a t-shirt for WWE's the Shield with Roman Reigns in the background while they were both at the Atlanta airport last night. So, what's the scoop?"

Alison smiled. "Sorry, but there's no story here. We happened to be stuck at the same airport, all the shops were closed for the night, and I was stuck wearing my dress. Seeing that I was uncomfortable, he dug out a shirt and a pair of shorts for me to sleep in."

"That's it?" The host sounded absolutely crestfallen.

"Sorry, but that really is it." Alison shrugged. "We ate a late night dinner, played some cards, and went to sleep on separate couches."

Arty's voice was more nasal than his cohost's. "At least he had something pretty to look at, because you are just gorgeous."

Roman felt himself frowning as he leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees, noticing that Gorge had stopped to listen as well. He had listened to these two do interviews before, had even done one with them as part of the Shield, and knew that Arty was meant to be the clown of the duo. Sometimes, he went too far with females, and things got tense.

Alison kept her face and voice as friendly as possible, even though she disliked the man greatly. "Well, thank you, but I think he outshines me in that department. That is one fine man."

"So, you like big men, then?" Arty gave a very unmanly giggle. "Because I'm 6'1", and I've been hitting the gym a lot recently."

"That's very cool for you. It's good to get in shape." Trying to steer the conversation back to somewhere she felt comfortable, Alison grinned. "I think it's important for people to take care of themselves. And, yes, I like bigger men. Then, I'm only 5'1", so most people are big to me."

Roman smirked to himself. Only to frown as Arty continued.

"That's okay; it just means you're fun-size. Hey, after this, wanna come over to my place and watch my clean and jerk?"

Alison blanched at the way his eyes slid over her chest. "You're making me a bit uncomfortable right now. It is neither funny, nor welcome. Please stop."

Roman and Gorge both nodded in approval.

"What? It was a complement!"

"Arty, man." Dan broke in quickly. "I think you need to go to the bathroom or go get something to drink out of the vending machine and think about what you've been saying, dude."

When the other man stomped from the room, Dan spoke into the mic. "I'm so sorry for that. This is not the way our station is run, and I assure you that management will be having a word with him in the very near future."

Alison frowned as she watched Arty The Creep leave the studio and then turned her attention to Dan. "It's okay. You didn't know he was going to take things that far, and you stepped in to help."

"So. . . Are you a fan of the WWE?"

Alison gave a full, hearty laugh that tumbled from her lips easily. "Nice subject change, Dan. I'm a fan of wrestling in general, though I think its universal knowledge that the WWE is the best product on television at the moment."

"So, what are your thoughts on TNA or Ring of Honor?"

"TNA has some really great talent, though the product is so lackluster that it's difficult to watch at times. Dixie Carter wishes she could be the heel that Stephanie McMahon is. It's gotten to the point that my security guys can't be in the room when Stephanie is on, because they say her voice makes their balls try to hide." Alison laughed along with Dan for a moment before continuing. "Ring of Honor has some really amazing performers and interesting storylines, but they lack the cable deal to get their product out to the masses."

"You really are a fan." Dan chuckled. "Do you remember seeing any of the current pool of big name talent when they were in other places?"

"I remember Seth Rollins when he was Tyler Black during his Ring of Honor days along with CM Punk and Samoa Joe. Dean Ambrose went by a different name in IPW, CZW, and Dragon Gate. That stuff is INSANE, by the way, and I would suggest caution if any of your listeners decide to watch some of those matches."

"Yeah?"

Alison nodded. "Oh, yeah. I was pretty sure he was dead at a few of them because of the blood. One match, Thumbtack Jack stapled a mask to his face! No lie. His promos have always been super amazing, though."

"Oh, my God. Wow. Can I ask how you got to see so much wrestling?"

"Well, you see, my parents believed in allowing their children to discover what we wanted to do, and to encourage us all. My brothers have all enlisted at some point in the Marines, but it never felt like the right fit for me –"

"Now, your father's a Marine, right?"

"Yes, sir. He was just promoted to full Colonel."

"Wow, that's pretty amazing."

"Yeah, he came up through the ranks, and I am very proud of my daddy." Alison smiled. "Anyway, they agreed to pay for rent and food for a year so that I could concentrate on my music. Jersey had the combination of rent and affordable studio time that I needed, so I rented a crap apartment there. Whenever wrestling came through, I would go to the show because I knew I could pay for a ticket and the guys in the crowd would supply me with drinks and entertainment for the evening."

"Ah, so you could get drunk and watch wrestling all for the price of a ticket."

"Exactly!"

The two laughed and finished the interview as planned. Arty never returned, and Alison found out after they went off the air that he had been sent home and was now the subject of a performance review. Telling the station manager that he had made her feel uncomfortable, and as if he were undressing her mentally, Alison accepted an apology and was swept off to dinner.

Once the interview was over, Roman picked up his phone to survey the damage. She was trending on Twitter again, though there was also #MoxleyMask and #Alisonisamark. Smirking, he decided to add to the conversation.

Great interview, AliRally! I'll have to tell Dean you're a fan. Good job with the creep.

O:O:O:O:O:O:

Sunday morning, Roman went to breakfast with his parents. It had become tradition to go out to eat with his mom and dad before big football games in college, and it had somehow carried over now that he was wrestling for a living. His mom liked to worry over his various storylines and bruises, asking after Jon and making sure Colby was getting enough to eat. His father would always chuckle lightly and tell him to let her fuss.

The waitress, a woman named Marsha who had been waiting on them for years, brought them their check and winked playfully at his father. "So, it looks like your son is more of a player than I thought!"

Roman stopped his conversation with his mom to look at her. "Why? What do you mean?"

"TMZ was reporting last night that you had left your fiancée for one Miss Alison Hedland. They had your ex on and everything."

Roman growled in his throat and stomped from the restaurant, yanking his phone from his pocket as he went. Dialing Mariah's number, he was cursing her out before she even said hello.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing, you stupid bitch?!"

"Why, just fucking with your plans the same way you did mine." She gave an evil chuckle. "Try being a Hound of Justice now that everyone knows you're nothing but a lying, cheating, pig!"

The line went dead, and he cursed again.

"Roman!" His mother's sharp rebuke echoed across the lot, and he was doubly glad that there were few cars there so early in the morning. "You watch that language!"

Roman hung his head and stooped his shoulders, trying to make himself smaller in the face of his mother's wrath. "Sorry, tina."

She smiled at his use of the Samoan word for mother and patted his cheek lovingly. "Now, you call this girl, and you –"

"I already tried calling the idiot, and she –"

"Not her. You call the girl she's talking bad on. Let her handle it."

Roman frowned. "Why can't I just do it? She had nothing to do with any of this."

"Because this is one of the few things that people won't believe a man over a woman for. Just call her."

Kissing his mom goodbye and giving his father a hug, Roman climbed into a cab and dialed Alison's number as he was driven to the airport.

"Hello?" Her voice was a strange combination of scratchy and muffled, as if her throat hurt and she was speaking through a mouthful of marshmallows. "Roman, is that you?"

"Shit, I woke you up." Now, he felt horrible.

"Yeah, kinda." She cleared her throat and sat up in the bed at the back of her tour bus. "What's up?"

"I'm sorry, babygirl."

He spoke without thinking about it, but she felt a tingle go down her spine anyway. "It's no big deal. I'm officially on tour now, so there's lots of bus sleeping to do."

"Not just about waking you. Mariah called TMZ and did an interview last night. She told them we were engaged, and that you broke us up."

Alison nodded, even though he couldn't see the gesture. "I'll make a few calls and handle it."

"Seriously? That's all you have to do?"

She snorted a laugh. "What, should I hunt down your ex and beat her up? I don't think that would help our case at all."

"No, you're right. It wouldn't."

"Let me call Perez and my lawyer, and I'll get right back to you."

"Yeah, okay." He had arrived at the airport and needed to do the check in and security stuff anyway.

Hanging up with Roman, Alison scrolled through her contacts for Perez's number. "Hey, sweetie!"

"Haaay!" It may have been 4:00AM in LA, but Perez kept crazy hours and was obviously wide awake. "I assume you're calling about that ratchet bitch bad mouthing you on TMZ last night."

"I highly doubt she's ratchet, but I am calling about her."

"Honey, the bitch is ratchet if we say she is." Perez's smirk could be heard over the phone. "You want me to put it out there that it's completely false, that you would never do such a thing, and that she's just mad?"

"Would you? Because that would mean that I have to love you lots."

"Consider it done, Honey."

"Yay! And you can add that I'm contacting my lawyers, because I'll be doing that as soon as we hang up.'

"I love how you know who has the power in this situation.

Alison stretched and decided to go for some hot tea in the small kitchen. "You have to control the rumors or they just go crazy."

Hanging up with him and leaving a message with her lawyer's answering service, she dialed Roman's number while her tea steeped.

"It's getting handled."

Roman smiled and sipped a bottle of water. "Already?"

"Well, Perez will have my rebuttal up in just a few minutes. And I should be hearing back from the lawyers by this afternoon."

"They work on a Sunday? And who the hell is Perez?"

"Perez Hilton is a celebrity blogger. He controls a lot of the rumor flow." Alison snorted. "And, for what I pay those lawyers, you're damn right they work on Sundays. I'm just glad you called me about it."

"My mom told me to." Roman could feel his cheeks warm slightly at the admission.

Alison giggled and briefly wondered when she had started doing that so often. "You always do what your mom says?"

"Hey, now. Samoan moms are scary!"

"I didn't say it was a bad thing. Hell, my mom kept my seven older brothers and me in line, and she was alone a lot of the time because my father was deployed."

Roman nearly choked on his water. "You have seven older brothers? Seven?"

"I told you I have a lot of brothers."

"Well, yeah. But seven?! How the hell did you ever get a date with that many older brothers hanging around and chasing them off?"

"Funny thing. When you do 12 years of school in 18 different places, having that many brothers is the least of your worries when it comes to dating." Alison chuckled. "Of course, having an active duty Marine as a father tends to help keep the boys away as well."

"So how many hearts did you have to break because of all that?"

Snorting, Alison took her mug back to her bedroom. "None."

"What, did you just hang with boys with balls of steel?"

"No," Alison sighed. "No one ever even tried."

Frowning, Roman leaned forward to focus on her voice. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that no one has ever asked me out. Now, people just sort of meet up at whatever party or gathering is happening, but men don't really ask women out in my circle of people."

"No one? Ever?" Getting a sudden realization, he smirked. "What about prom?"

"Never went."

"Not ever?"

"Not even once at any of the six high schools I attended."

Roman was speechless. "That must've been really hard."

"Some things were harder than others, but there were some really cool things about being a Marine's kid."

"You'll have to tell me sometime. Right now, I'm about to reach the front of the security line."

"Oh, yeah? Where're you off to?"

"Boston for Raw tomorrow night, then Philly to record Smackdown. We won't get to go home because of house shows this week, and then we'll be in Greensboro on Monday for Raw." Roman sighed and eyed the large woman who was shouting at the TSA agents about how she didn't want to be scanned because they would be looking at her naked. "What about you?"

"We're making our way up the east coast from Florida now."

That got his full attention. "Any chance you have some time off in there over the next week or two?"

"I have a show every night from here until Sunday, and then I have Sunday and Monday free."

"And where will you be by then?"

Alison flipped through her tour itinerary that she kept clipped to her bedside table. "Roanoke, Virginia is where I have the show on Saturday night. Tuesday, I have to be in Louisville."

Roman's heart kicked up a notch, but he tried to keep himself calm. "How about that. We both have Sunday off."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. How about you finish up in Roanoke, get some sleep, and then I'll pick you up. I mean, you'll have to put up with Jon and Colby, but we'd get to hang. Then, after Raw, you can fly to Kentucky."

Alison drew her blankets over her legs. "Roman, are you doing gymnastics with logistics just to ask me out?"

"I don't know. . . Is it working?"

"Yeah, I think it is."

Roman chuckled as the line began to more once again. "Then consider yourself asked out."

Alison giggled through their goodbyes, and Roman felt ten feet tall and bulletproof.