"How're you doing?" A voice interrupted Carter's thoughts.

Carter snapped her head away from gazing out of the plane window to look at John Cena sitting across from her.

He smiled and chuckled. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"No, it's fine," she shifted and accepted the small bottle of water he handed her.

John and Carter were on his private jet en route to Green Bay, Wisconsin for the Memorial Day episode of RAW. Carter had decided to spend her couple of days off from the road in Florida with Nikki and Brie and John had commanded that she just fly with him instead of flying on her own. It made more sense and the companionship was always nice.

"I got lost in my thoughts for a bit."

"Did the trip down here help?"

"It did. I needed a recharger."

"You know you're welcome to stay with us any time. I know you're just down the road but sometimes company is nice to have."

Carter gave him a warm smile. She loved John; she always had. She loved his personality away from his role in WWE. She loved how much he cares for the people close to him. She loved how much he loved Nikki.

It had actually been John that suggested she come visit for a few days. After her run-in with Dolph before Smackdown and learning she wasn't required to come to the live shows that weekend, she had face timed Nikki from her hotel room and was trying to give her a recap of what was happening. She was feeling sad and needed to just relax and recharge and John had interrupted their conversation and told her to change her plans for the next few days and to just get on a plane and come home. Nikki and Brie were both there, he and Bryan were both there, and she could probably use the trip.

The time with her two friends was much needed, even with E!'s cameras around. She was so grateful for Becky's newfound friendship but Brie and Nikki were her two closest friends. If Becky, Charlotte, Sasha and Bayley were the four horse women of NXT; Carter, Nikki, Brie and Renee had been the main roster version.

The time on the beach and the wine was the exact medicine she needed. John had kept his distance, knowing the girls needed their time, but he had always been very easy for Carter to talk to. Almost like an 'on the road' big brother.

"To be honest," she started, shifting in the seat to tuck her legs underneath her, "I think I fell in to feeling a little sorry for myself. The last few months I've just been struggling with kind of…finding my role. With Brie and Nikki both not around, Renee moving up and getting so close with Dean and then you know…my own relationship issues, I've just been kind of lost. I feel a little left behind, I guess. But I shouldn't and I know that. The brand split is coming up and I have some really good things in store for me. I know it's going to be fine. And I do have friends on the road. I have Becky and Seth…" Carter trailed off, leaving a pause after she mentioned Seth.

"He's a good guy, Carter. I've always been a fan of his and he's changed a lot in the last seven months."

"I know."

"I don't think you should beat yourself up too much over falling in to a little bit of sadness. Things have changed for you quite a bit in just a couple of months and it's hard, for anybody, to adjust to change quickly. You're a veteran now. You just have to know that sometimes it's okay to let your heart get the best of you."

"John Cena would never let his heart get the best of him," Carter scoffed, teasing him.

"It happens," he shrugged.

"I think for a while I shut myself up, when Dolph and I broke up, and now everything that I shut up is starting to trickle out. I'm afraid to let it trickle out but I'm also afraid not to. I don't have feelings for him anymore…they disappeared the moment he spoke those words to me, but I still have hurt. I got cold and I got isolated and I'm worried that because of that…I'm not going to be the best person I can be or do the best job that I'm capable of doing."

"Best person for who?"

"Becky, Renee, Nik and Brie…" she shrugged. "In general."

"And Seth?"

"It's so new to me. We weren't close before he got hurt and now it's a complete 180. I don't know if I feel like there's more or if I feel like it's a fleeting thing now that he's back out on the road and working every day. I just want it to be good. I missed his birthday and I feel like a real shit hole for that."

"Tell him what you just told me. Leave out a few things if you want to but tell him that you're…trying to find your place and be a good friend and be the best Carter you are. He'll understand, I promise that. I've been where he is before. His role is different now, too."

Carter smiled at him

"You're going to be fine and Nicole will be back and everything will change again. You know you were struggling and now you're moving on."

"Thank you. Don't tell the girls this but seriously this 5 minute talk did more for me than three days with them."

"It was all the wine," Cena replied.

"Wine…advice…they're one and the same…."

He shook his head and stood, motioning for her to stand up. They shared a hug and Carter smiled up at him.

"Can we do a selfie for Instagram?"

"One," he said sternly.

Carter snapped a selfie and quickly posted it to her Instagram page with a "Look who I found…" caption. She got comfortable in her seat again and sent a quick text to Seth before putting in her ear buds and letting herself drift off for a quick nap.

Seth was already at the arena before he decided to reply to Carter's text. He had just showered and was headed to catering. He exchanged a few nods with Dean, Renee and Kevin Owens as they were leaving and filled his plate before taking a seat at an empty table. He took his phone out and read the message from Carter again.

I'm a jerk and I'm sorry.

The corner of his mouth turned up slightly even though he tried not to smile.

After Smackdown the week before she had slipped away to the hotel without a word and he had headed to Orlando for one final check in with his doctors. He had been irritated with her for only about an hour when he saw her Instagram post with Nikki and Brie in Tampa and realized she was an hour and half from the performance center and hadn't said anything to him about it. He would have liked to spend time with her but didn't have any claim on her time. She had called him while he was at the gym on Saturday and left him a voicemail from her and the twins singing happy birthday and hoping he had an awesome day.

Apart from that, this was the first he heard from her.

You aren't a jerk. Seth replied.

It took a few minutes for her reply to come through. I'm still sorry. I kind of disappeared and I missed your birthday.

Is everything ok? And it's just another day…

Everything is ok. I needed to recharge. I'll be at the arena soon, I think. I'm with John. Do you have free time? Carter's reply came through almost immediately. He took a few minutes to stop and talk to Cesaro before replying to her.

I'm going to dinner after the show tonight with one of my old trainers. I'll be around when you get here, though.

He frowned slightly as he hit send. He did have plans for that night but he now wanted to cancel them. And that would be an asshole move he thought to himself.

Dammit, he missed her.

He watched the circles on the bottom of the iMessage screen start and stop a couple of times and frowned to himself. He sighed heavily and typed another text before she could respond.

Would you want to ride with me tomorrow to SD?

He waited as she typed.

That would be perfect.

Later that evening, Carter was backstage and standing next to a screen, watching live as Seth confronted Roman Reigns over the WWE Championship. She had to snag him when he came back through the curtains to do a quick on screen interview and then she was done for the night.

Renee came up next to her and bumped her with her hip.

"Hey girl."

Carter smiled and bumped her back. "Hey hey."

"So…I feel like I've abandoned you and we totally aren't friends anymore and I miss you," Renee stated.

Carter gave her friend a sympathetic look. "Stop that. You haven't abandoned me and we're definitely still friends. Things have been busy."

"I know," she pouted. "I just need some catch up time with you. Thanks for the invite to Tampa by the way! The whole group was together without me."

"You were at a wedding…."

"Beach and wine would have been better than the wedding, to be honest."

"It was a last minute trip, anyways. I'm sorry. I'll let you know next time."

They fell in to a shared silence for a moment, both of them watching the two men on screen.

"Anyways! I wanted to see if you wanted to ride with me and Dean tomorrow? I know you've been car pooling with Becky, but…we can torture him with bad 90s boy band car karaoke."

"No." Dean interjected, joining the two. "No you can't."

"It wasn't a request," Renee replied, looking at him.

"I'll ride with Roman, then. Or Seth."

Renee started to speak but Carter interrupted her, "you don't have to worry, Dean. I'm actually riding with Seth tomorrow."

She got blank looks from both Dean and Renee.

"Oh! Ok then," Renee stammered, smiling. "Well never mind. Ride with Seth…."

"I would like to get lunch or something though. You too," she pointed at Dean.

"Of course. I will be texting you, ma'am. We definitely need to catch up." Renee gave Carter a quick hug and she left with Dean down the hallway towards catering.

Carter turned her attention back to the screen and inhaled deeply. Four hours with Seth the next morning. Piece of cake.