Thanks for all the great feedback! It's all greatly appreciated :)

The early morning sun crept through the blinds of Melissa's window shaking her awake. She rolled away and checked the time on her phone. 11:30am. The screen displayed a text message from last nights drinking partner, Stuart Bennett. Made it home safely. Had a great time. Talk to you soon. Melissa thought for a few seconds before responding with Thank you for a wonderful night. Have a safe trip. Seconds later her phone vibrated. Did you just wake up? Someone had a little too much fun.

Indeed she had. Melissa walked to the medicine cabinet in her bathroom and took two Tylenol. She looked at herself in the mirror. She hadn't bothered to wash up before bed. Her mascara was smeared under her eyes. She couldn't think up a witty retort to Stu's text and decided to wait before responding so as to not appear so desperate.

She spent the morning replaying the events of last night. The end of the night was a bit hazy. She only remembered being carried in by Stu's strong arms and laughing for most of the evening. She began to remember more and more as she woke up over her morning cup of tea. He had been affectionate with her. He took care of her. He was gorgeous, charming and thoughtful. She hoped that he really meant what he said when he left. Based on the text she received, she had to trust that she would see him again.

Despite Saturday being her day off, she had no real plans. After running her usual errands of going to the morning farmers market and walking on the beach, she would buy all the fabric necessary for Ryan's vests and plant herself behind her sewing machine for the rest of the weekend. And she would wait for the phone to ring.

"You've been lookin' at your phone every 5 seconds, man. You waitin' on somethin'?" Heath Miller asked. The two were driving to the arena for their Birmingham house show from the hotel. Stu was anxiously awaiting a return text from Melissa.

"I'm just waiting for a response to a message I sent earlier," Stu was worried that his comment had offended her.

"What's her name?" Heath knew when Stu was love struck. Stu had a permanent grin plastered on his face from the moment they met at the Tampa airport to board their flight.

"Melissa," His smile widened and he glanced at the phone again.

"Is she the new costume designer for FCW? Ryan was telling me about her. Said she's really cute and sweet"

"She is. We hung out for a bit last night. She's very funny and caring...and..."

"Totally different from Karen?" Heath asked. Heath never cared much for Karen. He thought she was a total pain in Stu's ass. The break up was easy and it made sense. Karen had become increasingly frustrated by the amount of time apart they spent and when they were together she was unbearable to be with. Karen was always trying to start an argument about something. Stu had decided that he needed to enjoy his rise to fame and concentrate on being the best. They have not spoken to or seen each other since the night he called it quits. Friends had tried to set him up on dates since then, but no one really knew his type. Being on the road did make it difficult and he was afraid of falling for someone that would also not be patient about his career.

Stu sighed. "Never mind Karen. It's still too soon to tell anyway. But she's different in that she's a little on the shy side" Stu smiled thinking about getting her to open up and show her true self last night. "but I like that about her. I like that she blushes when she gets a compliment. I like that she dropped her entire life back home to pursue costume design"

"So, she'll probably be pretty understanding when it comes to your career and your aspirations" Heath stated.

"Sure. I guess. Time will tell." Heath pulled the car into the parking lot just as Stu's text alert went off. Based on how I felt this morning, I am thankful for the door to door service, Sir. Stu was relieved that she responded and had remembered his chivalrous efforts from the previous evening. Stu stared at the screen for a few seconds trying to decided whether to call her right back or send a simple reply.

"Well, man, are you ready to go in?"

"Just a second...you can go ahead," Stu decided to take a chance and call Melissa. Her phone only rang one time.

Melissa's heart was racing as she answered the phone. "Hello?"

He breathed a sigh of relief. "Hey Melissa, it's Stu. Are you feeling any better?"

Melissa giggled. "A few tylenol and a whole lot of water later, I feel pretty good. Hows your road trip going?"

"So far, so good. We're about to do our first show in a few hours. I didn't sleep before leaving for the airport so I'm also feeling a little under the weather"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to keep you out late."

"No, no it's not that at all. I'm a terrible sleeper. I just couldn't relax enough when I got home. I was thinking about you too much"

Melissa was amazed with how quickly the next words came to her.. "I can't wait to see you when you get back. I was thinking it might be nice if I cooked for you when you came back on Wednesday. I imagine you don't get too many home cooked meals."

"You'd be right. That sounds lovely. I'm looking forward to it, darling. I bet your blushing right now, aren't you?"

She was and acknowledged this with a simple "Mmhmm." She was afraid that anything she would say would ruin this conversation between them. It had been going so well.

"Come on, man!" Heath yelled at him from across the parking lot.

"Melissa, sorry to cut this so short, but I have to go get ready for the show. We'll chat again soon."

"Looking forward to it" He could hear the smile in her voice. "Be safe."

"Always. Bye, love"

Stu defended his Intercontinental Title that night against Kofi Kingston. The match was flawless with Stu retaining the title. The crowd had been less than pleased with the result, but Stu loved hearing the boos from the crowd and the "You suck!" chants. It was what fueled him as a performer.

Settling back in to his hotel room, he stared at his Intercontinental title. He had worked so hard all of his life for this. When he won, he really wished he had someone to celebrate with. Sure, he had his friends in the company. His family was across the Atlantic but they let him know just how proud they were of him. Still, he felt that the victory would've been sweeter if he had a beautiful girl on his arm.

Heath's snoring was keeping him awake again. Stu's mind started to wander as he laid in bed. He thought of all the ways that his relationship with Karen failed. He wanted to make sure he wasn't going to make the same mistake this time with Melissa. Whether he was on the road or not, he needed to make sure that she showed her every day that he was thinking about her. He didn't want her to wonder if he was cheating like Karen had. Those accusations were the beginning of the end of their relationship. Stu was faithful to every girlfriend he had ever had. He was a one woman man. He wondered if maybe Melissa was worried about what he was doing at that moment. Right now would be good time to start showing her that she could trust him. Stu picked up his phone and shot her a text Looking forward to Wednesday night, love. I bet whatever you prepare will be delicious.

The rest of the weekend had gone by pretty fast. Melissa had another full day to look forward to at FCW. She enjoyed the fast paced work environment. At 10am she was meeting with Ryan to see how the vests fit and make any necessary alterations. At 11:30am she would be meeting the FCW divas to look over the dresses they picked out for the upcoming Miss FCW ceremony. The rest of the afternoon would be spent making alterations to all those garments.

She was proud of the work she had accomplished over the weekend, but felt lonely. Now that she was settling in to her second week in Tampa, the novelty was starting to wear off and she longed for dinners with friends, quiet time with family, and nights out in the city. It had been two days since she had seen Stu and she had another two to go. It was torture. She was trying to keep herself busy enough so that she wouldn't think about him too much. She loved the texts and phone calls she received from him, but she was beginning to doubt if she could build and sustain a relationship with someone through technology.

Ben knocked on her office door. "Good morning, Melissa. How was your weekend?"

"Oh hey, Ben. It was nice. Yours?"

"Great. Spent some time on the beach with my kids. They love the ocean"

Melissa adored children and couldn't wait to have her own. "I didn't know you had kids. How old are they?"

"Two boys. Seven and four" Ben looked over at her desk an saw the large pile of fabric.. "Did you already finish Ryan's vests?" Ben picked the top one up and looked over the stitching. "This looks amazing"

"Oh, thank you. I finished them Saturday night. I called him this morning to let him know. He should be in around 10 tomorrow to try them on."

"Knowing Ryan, he'll be in earlier than that. Wow, Mel, these are great. Nice work." Melissa was absolutely beaming inside. All that worrying for nothing. She knew she was going to get on well in FCW.

Stu hadn't slept a wink again that night, but felt fine to carry on with the day ahead. Wade Barrett vs. Sheamus in a Champion vs. Champion match was scheduled that night for Raw. Stu and Stephen came up in the ranks together and worked incredibly well together in the ring. Despite their history, Stu still stayed up all night watching you tube clips of Stephen's recent matches against Daniel Bryan looking for new and creative ways to work their match to grab the fans attention. He wanted to give the WWE Universe something different. Plus, he had shot Melissa a text earlier in the day requesting that she watch Raw. Her response: I wouldn't miss it.

Stephen and Stu sat in the corner of the locker room catching up and discussing their match for the night. Since Stu switched brands they hardly ever saw each other anymore.

Stu was all business. "I've come up with a great end to the match and I wanted to run it by you."

"We can get to all that a second. Hows being champion treating you?"

Stu chuckled. "Very well."

"It's amazing, isn't it? And we're both champs at the same time. We imagined this happening hundreds of times, but did you ever really think it would happen?"

"Yes." Stu stated confidently. "Only I thought I'd be a top tier champ. I don't know about you."

Stephen laughed. "Yeah. Me too. So, talk to me. Hows your life going?"

"Can't complain. Constantly training. I get to sneak some fishing in every now and then."

Stephen was lacing up his boots."Still pathetically single?"

"Hopefully not anymore." Stu stood up to beginning stretching his legs in preparation.

"Oh, really now? Do tell." Stephen was immediately interested. Stu had never alluded to being interested in dating since joining the WWE roster. He had always said that a relationship would be "too distracting."

"There is a new FCW costume designer." Stu smiled just thinking about her. "Melissa."

Stephen nodded. "I got the e-mail welcoming her"

"Well, I needed measurements done last week so I met with her. She came out for some drinks with a few of us and we really clicked."

"Great news, man. All the best to you." Stephen was sincere in his statement. He really wanted Stu to be happy.

Stu's eyes fixated on the floor. He was clearly thinking about her. "Thanks. I'm really looking forward to seeing what happens."

Stephen slapped him on the arm. "You know what else you should be looking forward to?"

"Whats that?" asked the Englishman coming back from his day dream.

"My boot in your face."

Stu chuckled. "Oh yeah, we'll see about that, mate."

Ryan rolled in to Melissa's office around 9:30am. "Hey lady!" Melissa jumped at her computer and put her hand over her heart. He had scared the shit out of her. "Oh, sorry."

"You scared the shit out of me! How are you?"

"Excellent. Hey, thanks for coming out the other night. Did you have a good time?"

"Yeah, I had a great time. Thanks for inviting me. Where did you end your night?"

"At The Independent, strangely enough."

"Weird! So, I'd like you to try on each vest and check out the fit. Let me know if anything needs to be changed." Melissa handed him the brown and white cow print one. The one that they were both most excited about.

"Did you guys stay much longer after we took off?"

"Matt and Catie left almost immediately." Melissa smiled. "Stu and I closed the place down." She wanted to share more information, but she didn't know Ryan all that well yet. Plus, he was more Stu's confidant than her own.

Ryan decided to throw in a good word or two for his friend. "He's a nice guy, ain't he?"

"Yeah, he's really great," Melissa gushed. "We've been in touch while he's been on the road and we have plans for Wednesday. I'm going to cook dinner."

"Oh, he'll love that. His cooking is the shits," They both laughed. "This fits great. You did an awesome job." Ryan flexed in the mirror. "I look so sexy!"

"Speaking of sexy, how is Jen?" Melissa inquired.

Ryan shrugged it off. "One time thing. Nice girl, but not too much there. Plus, I'm not really in to that whole commitment and dating right now. Too much to focus on at this point in my life with my career, you know?"

Melissa nodded her head. "Sure. Makes sense." She was beginning to wonder if maybe Stu viewed her the same way.