Val opened her eyes, seeing JJ nearby.
"They all fell asleep… except Hunter and Stephanie, they're checking in on their kids." JJ says.
"They have two families… their kids and the adults who act more their shoe sizes. Except for Amanda, she's got her head screwed on straight." Val says.
"Well so have you." JJ says.
"Not really… I act my hair length or something like that." Val says.
"Yeah. It is pretty long." JJ says, Val stretching her right arm out… she looked over JJ's right shoulder and saw Finn and Amanda asleep on a gurney, her in his arms.
"The volunteer said that Amanda fell asleep quickly… most likely out of pure exhaustion, with them on the road most of the year." JJ says after a few seconds.
"Can't blame her for being tired, it takes a lot out of someone… or for her and Finn growing close to one another, don't know why Alexa's hell bent on destroying it. I don't see anything wrong with them." Val says.
"Might not actually be against it. You remember Ronnie, hated you for crashing his car and tried to turn us all against you simply to hurt you." JJ says.
"Yeah… fucking asshole he was." Val says.
Sami looked over at the gurney and then at Enzo, who was going towards it with a bottle of water to pour on them… until Amanda bolted upright and sent him reeling back by slapping him, Val laughing.
"Damn it, Tiny!" Enzo says painfully.
"Lighten the mood some other way, Zo!" Amanda says as Finn sat up and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, Enzo checking on Val.
"She got ya good!" Val says.
"It's not the first time she's slapped me either." Enzo says.
"That much was obvious. You weren't shocked enough for it to be the first time." JJ says.
"First time, she had… actually, she had been punched like she was the other night and thought that Kevin Owens was looking for another fight." Enzo says, starting to explain.
8/26/15, NXT show…
Amanda let out an aggravated growl and stormed over to the door, flung it open and punched at the person outside… only to hear Enzo scream and unclench her fist.
"Sorry, Zo!" Amanda says, immediately checking on him as Colin and Finn ran towards them.
"What happened?!" Colin asks.
"Tiny's all jumpy!" Enzo says, Amanda turning uncomfortable when Colin looked at her and immediately gave him the puppy dog eyes, pouting her lips slightly.
"She does go on the defensive…" Finn says, getting Amanda to stop with the look as the stitches were still under her lower lip and she now had a black eye from Kevin's fist.
"Someone needs to put Owens in his place." Colin mutters, Finn trying to hide his bruised left hand but Amanda saw it.
"You hit him again, didn't you?" Amanda says.
"More than once." Finn says reluctantly.
"How many times, Finn?" Amanda asks, also seeing that his right hand was just as bruised.
"Until he was out cold…" Finn says, his hands lightly cupping Amanda's face and their foreheads pressing together seconds later as her hands rested on his arms…
Present time…
"He's very protective of her… she's the same with him." Enzo says.
"You all are most of the time." Val says.
"Family's family… no matter how we meet." Enzo says, all three seeing Amanda asleep again and Finn watching her as he brushed her hair back.
"Get her on back to the hotel so she can get some better rest." Val says, Enzo looking at her in confusion.
"You gonna try to incite a jailbreak from here without her here to stop ya?" Enzo asks, Val chuckling.
"A gurney's not a good replacement for a bed… she'll be hurting like hell if she stays sleeping on it." Val says.
The next time Amanda woke up, it was nighttime and she lightly rubbed her eyes before feeling Finn gently pull her left hand down to the bed.
"When did we get back here?" Amanda asks, her voice rough from sleep.
"A few hours ago. Val said that you needed better sleep." Finn says as Amanda lightly stretched her tiny body and cringed as a crick echoed from her spine. "That's one of the reasons why, lass." He says.
"I feel older when that happens at times." Amanda says as Changes by David Bowie played from the radio. "They've been playing his music a lot lately." She says quietly, realising that she was still in her clothes and his jacket and carefully stood up with his help.
She would've said that she could stand up on her own… but after the punches to her head and eye, she still felt unsteady on her feet. Amanda slipped the jacket and her tank top and bra off, pulling on a slightly oversized Balor Club shirt before removing her leggings and pulling on a pair of grey flannel shorts.
Lying back down, it wasn't long before the two pulled the thick covers over themselves… but Amanda was hesitant to close her eyes.
"They almost died… and Alexa was still a bitch after that. They say to never hit anyone who's in a hospital bed but I was sorely tempted to hurt that Harley Quinn ripoff." Amanda says, Finn knowing that it wasn't Alexa's insults towards Amanda that had pissed her off so much as what Alexa had said about him.
And then Finn saw the look in Amanda's eyes, his arms wrapping around her.
"You don't think Val's gonna try to kill Alexa in that hospital, do you?" Amanda asks… before both heard a loud bang against the door.
"Seth, you drunk fool! Chill!" Ty exclaims.
"Bahhh! You remind me of Mandy when she tells me to chill! Seth Freakin Rollins doesn't need to chill!" Seth slurred drunkenly, downing the rest of the vodka after shouting the last part.
The door opened and Ty saw Amanda, who was staring wide eyed at Seth.
"How did he lose his pants?!" Amanda asks.
"He got them caught on a roadside barrier, took them off to get free and didn't bother picking them back up." Ty says.
"Seth, get your drunk ass to bed!" Amanda says, Seth trying to do a backflip instead and falling flat on his face, which got Dean's attention.
"Damn it." Dean mutters, pulling Seth up to his feet but Seth was still out cold.
The next morning…
Seth screamed when water was thrown on him and bolted upright, seeing Dean, Renee and Ty.
"My damn head… wait, where are my pants?!" Seth says, realising he was only in his shirt and boxers.
"Somewhere in the downtown area, that's where I last remember being." Ty says.
"Seth, you gotta cut back on the drinking." Dean says.
"What else happened last night?" Seth asks after looking at Ty.
"Well apparently you got more ass than a toilet seat when you fought the evil dragon of elastic rope." Ty says while doing his best to keep a straight face.
"Damn me and my crazy drinking." Seth mutters… before seeing a sticky note on him and pulling it off.
'Call me back, 212-1957, Becky'
"Reddish orange hair to her waist, thick Irish accent?" Seth says.
"That about describes her." Ty says.
"Becky Lynch… she and I have been hanging around each other for a while after the whole thing with Zahra ended badly." Seth says.
"Shoulder to cry on sort of thing?" Ty asks.
"Yeah… she's a sweet person." Seth says.
"Never a bad thing to find someone like that… I did too, once." Ty says.
"Didn't end well?" Seth asks.
"She died… in a massive shootout. We may help the poor and those in need with our work but to get the resources is the hard working criminal side of it… causes conflicts if the locals don't like it. We got caught in a shootout and were practically backed into a dead end, Liara didn't make it out. Nearly none of us did." Ty says.
Seth turned his head to the side, trying not to cry as it had affected him.
"She was with us from the beginning… but she died doing what she loved to do, working to help those who couldn't help themselves. Maybe that's one of the best ways to go." Ty says.
"I think it would be." Seth says after brushing his tears away, seeing that his Samsung Galaxy s6 was on the table and barely remembered Roman taking it from him.
2 weeks later, WWE Fastlane pay per view…
"Feel much better without those stitches but it's so cold out here." Amanda says as she and Finn were outside, bundled up in cold weather clothes as the snow fell.
"Winter doesn't want to let go without a fight. Come on, let's head back in." Finn says, the two heading back into the arena.
They had been walking down the hallway for five minutes when the door to the creative team room flew open and they jumped back, Cody storming out.
"And fuck the whole Stardust gimmick!" Cody shouted at the writers, kicking the door closed before he saw the startled Demon King and Demon Mistress and chuckled humorlessly. "And look who shows up, the smooth talking prospect and his angel from hell!" He says angrily.
"You're frustrated with the creative team, you don't need to take it out on your friends, Cody!" Amanda says.
"Friends?! Some friends! Alexa's right, Mandy, Finn made you his slut and you're enjoying it too much to reach out to your friends when they're in a crisis!" Cody says angrily, Finn slamming his fist into Cody's face.
"You're willing to believe Alexa's lies over your friends, then you're not really a friend at all! You didn't tell us anything about what's been frustrating you, that's your own screw up!" Finn yelled, Cody looking at him.
"You're gonna wish you hadn't done that, Balor!" Cody growled before storming off, Finn and Amanda looking at each other.
Tears were in her eyes as he took her into his arms and the two hugged, Finn lightly rubbing his right hand up and down her back as Amanda let her tears fall.
He hated seeing her so upset… and the betrayal from the others on the roster was just beginning.