Welcome back, and hope everyone has a very happy Easter holiday! If I don't see you before then, of course.


Roman Reigns had heard Natalya humiliate Chelsea yesterday in front of some of the management and the entire tech crew. She had just exited the gym, stopping to get something from the vending machine before deciding to take personal jabs at the newest WWE diva. Roman had been in the gym himself, focusing on his cardio with his headphones jammed into his ears—but pulled them out once he'd noticed the raven-haired beauty just across the hall. He had chuckled to himself upon seeing her wearing those damn sandals again, while Laurenitis was, as always, wearing a button-up shirt and slacks. Curiosity got the best of him as he strained to hear their conversation, but all he really heard was the Hart Foundation's finest flap her gums.

The tall Samoan man couldn't help but feel badly for Chelsea. He didn't know much of her story, and maybe he never would. Whatever she'd done, though, definitely had rubbed Natalie the wrong way—earlier in the morning, Jimmy Uso had made a mention that Natalie had spouted off about her briefly during this week's taping of Total Divas. Though he didn't know what was said precisely, he had heard what Natalie had to say to Chelsea yesterday. If she could be that awful to the woman's face, she would be vile behind her back. Roman could be sure that whatever Nat said in front of the cameras, it wasn't anything nice.

Then again, it would definitely add fuel to the fire, which he assumed was where the creative team was going with this whole thing. They would probably use the Total Divas angle, once again blending the wrestling world with reality television. They'd done this ridiculously much lately, and while nobody was particularly fond of the route they were taking for the Divas division, it would make for a broad audience spectrum. At the very least, it would capture even more female fans.

Roman sighed to himself, next wondering where the team was headed with the Shield storyline. Right now, it looked pretty shitty. He wasn't quite sure that any of them were yet ready to branch off and do some single's matches when they hadn't fully gotten to their maximum potential. Yet, the writers continuously teased the cracks in the foundation, and rumors had already swirled regarding the trio's breakup.

In fact, last week, Dean had left his two brothers during a bout, telling them to figure out the match on their own. Without him. But tonight? They'd be together in the ring again, as though nothing had ever happened.

"What's up, Ro? Surprised you're not heading to creep on more of Dean's little training sessions," Seth had appeared, breaking his train of thought. The smaller man pulled up a chair next to Roman's, joining him in the catering room. The evening's trip had been very short, but for the next week, he'd be traveling through a few cities before the WWE superstars made their way to Georgia.

"Nah," Roman replied as he took a swig of his water bottle, his eyes focusing on the monitor. Jack Swagger was currently giving a promo. While he wasn't particularly interested in what Swagger had to say, he had a feeling he knew where Seth was going with this conversation. The distraction would serve it's purpose as an out, not wanting to participate in his brother's interrogation.

"Why not? You had a great time poking fun at Dean last time," Seth continued, ignoring the fact that Roman had been giving off all the signals indicating he didn't want to talk. "In fact," Seth kept it up, "Dean was kind of getting pissed. It was fuckin' hilarious."

"I just don't want Dean to think I'm on to something," Roman admitted, not taking his eyes off from Jack Swagger.

"But you want to be on something, don't you? Specifically, you want to be on little 'ol Chelsea Sweetly," Seth accused, a large grin spreading over most his face as he batted his eyelashes in an overly dramatic way.

Roman looked at his friend, his eyes incredulous. How could Seth had known that the woman had piqued his interest?

"Excuse me?" Roman asked, his brows knit together tightly.

"C'mon, Ro, be honest with yourself. And with me. You basically were undressing that little weirdo with your eyes the other day," Seth continued, not bothered by Roman's sharp looks.

Roman laughed once, awkwardly clapping his best friend's shoulder as he did so. "Dude, are you sure that wasn't you? She's more your type, after all."

Seth smirked, giving thought to his final statement. Roman couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy as Seth appeared to be turning over the idea of hooking up with Chelsea in his head.

"I mean, usually, she's exactly the type that I would go for," Seth admitted finally. "She's cute. Different. Got a mind of her own. And honestly, she's got one smokin' body. But I saw the way you were looking at her, and it seems to me that you've finally found someone that sparks your interest. I would be happy to step aside if you were interested in the slightest. Y'know, bro-code and all."

Roman shrugged, unsure of how his friend was able to read him with such little effort. All this while, he thought he'd done well at feigning disinterest. He remained the brooding, dark-haired strongman that the WWE Universe had come to know and love. Unfortunately, Seth knew him in real life. And Seth knew that he was a gentle giant, and deep down was hoping for one day, finding a happily-ever-after.

"You're right," Roman confirmed after a silence. "I don't know what it is about her, but she's like, fuckin' magnetic. She isn't anything like the women around here. She doesn't give a fuck about what the other women think of her. I think that's pretty admirable. But, Two-Tone," Roman clicked his tongue and smiled as Seth cringed at the terrible nickname he'd been given back in NXT, "I think you know where my loyalties lie. The only thing I'm focused on right now is the love of my life. My career," Roman stated the last bit with finality.

Seth nodded, understanding where his friend was coming from. "I know what you mean, Ro. I'm not saying you should jump headfirst into a relationship with someone, though. Just 'cause your career comes before anything else doesn't mean you can't have a little locker room fun on the journey to the top."

Roman rolled his eyes in response this time. "Knock it off, you horny bastard. The last thing I need is a distraction like that."

"Dude, you've already been distracted!" Seth countered, twisting his mouth to hide his laughter. "I have eyes, too. You want to find out what's hiding underneath those yoga pants, and I can tell."

"Fuck off, Seth," Roman grumbled, no longer wanting to carry on.

Seth laughed as his response, acknowledging his dismissal.

Relishing in his friend's departure, he breathed a sigh of relief. The silence was eerily overwhelming, yet quite welcome. Seth knew more than he let on, generally about everything. In the future, Roman had to work harder at being unreadable.

But Seth was wrong about one thing. While Seth still enjoyed playing the field, Roman wasn't interested in any of that. The last thing he'd do would be waste time on a girl. Even more, if he did find one worth his time, it would be with the intention of staying together as long possible.

And Roman had to admit, Chelsea Sweetly had grabbed his attention.

She could be the one.


"Chelsea, I'm glad you're here already. We have a big problem," Smackdown's General Manager, Vickie Guerrero, had addressed the taller woman. Vickie was walking down the narrow backstage hallway as she spoke.

Chelsea wasn't prepared whatsoever for the Smackdown tapings, despite the herds of fans who had already started to form in groups outside of the arena. Although she was mentally ready for the night, hair and makeup was an entirely different story. Chelsea had been waiting for a half an hour behind this godawful, wretched woman known as Summer Rae. She had been complaining to the hairstylist the entire time she'd been in her chair, making snide remarks about her sub-par talent using a simple curling iron.

Chelsea's eyes shifted as Vickie now stood before her, glad for another person to be in the area besides for snotty Summer. Though Vickie willingly took the butt of many jokes on television, she was highly respected backstage. That meant she also had the power to persuade higher members of management, and her voice would be heard loudly if she found something displeasing. Hopefully, she'd heard the way Summer Rae was verbally assaulting the tired-eyed woman who couldn't quite get the blonde's hair to hold a curl.

Vickie looked just as much a cougar as always, sporting a flimsy silver halter and black pants.

Still better than my own sweet wardrobe, Chelsea thought to herself sarcastically. She hadn't gotten to change her clothes yet since she'd been hanging out here, patiently waiting for this bitch to hurry it up. At this rate, she'd be announcing for the show this evening wearing her scrubby black leggings and oversized t-shirt that had a graphic of a cupcake on it. This very rolled-out-of bed look would be finished off with her black flip flops, of course.

And though she personally wouldn't have minded going out to the ring in this outfit, it wouldn't sit well with management. It wasn't considered to be an "appropriate" look for a WWE diva.

"What's up, Vickie?" Chelsea asked the older woman, her eyes flicking from the blonde bimbo to the GM. Chelsea had gotten to know the wife of WWE Legend, Eddie Guerrero, fairly well during her short run with NXT. Mostly because, she supposed, Vickie was great friends with Chelsea's pro at the time, Maryse. Although Maryse didn't always see eye to eye with Chelsea, Vickie often did. It was nice to have a high-profile person watching your back, and Chelsea did what she could to remain on Vickie's good side.

"Bad news, Chelsea. Our interviewer, Matt, is out for the night with a godawful stomach bug. There must be something nasty going around, 'cause I've just gotten the report that AJ Lee is out for the night, too."

Chelsea had to bite her lip really hard to avoid smirking. AJ sure lucked out tonight; at least now it didn't look so sketchy that she'd performed her little disappearing act.

"Okay…" Chelsea's confusion was carried in her voice. She wasn't a hundred percent on why Vickie was telling her any of this.

"Well, Matt was supposed to do a few interviews tonight with some of our superstars and divas. The first one being with the Shield."

Chelsea's heart almost came up through her throat.

Was she asking me to try my luck as an interviewer? A replacement for something I've done once in my entire career?

Vickie must have noticed the confusion and hesitation in Chelsea's eyes as she gingerly grabbed her shoulder in a somewhat motherly way. "Come on, Chelsea. I know you can do this. You rocked it during Raw on the announce table, and everyone has taken notice. I've got faith that you can do the same tonight. I wouldn't ask if I didn't need a decent interviewer tonight," Vickie's eyes plead, and the diva could tell that she was desperate.

"Alright. Just, um, let me know what I'm supposed to talk about…?" her voice fluctuated upward, so it seemed more a question than an acceptance. Chelsea knew she had absolutely zero experience as far as interviewing went. But she was determined to keep the uppers happy, so she sure would put in a solid effort.

Vickie clapped her hands together, appearing as a weight was lifted off from her shoulders. Her face visibly lifted, and Chelsea ignored the fact that she had no idea what to expect. She didn't even know how many interviews she had scheduled for the evening.

It was nice to see Vickie genuinely smile.

"Great! I'll get the notes to you in ten minutes, they're in my office yet," Vickie then turned to Summer, who was still bantering with the stylist as she sat in the chair. Everything about the scene made it clear that Summer Rae actually believed that she was better than the woman trying her hardest to make her camera-friendly.

"You. Out of that chair. I've got to get Chelsea going here," she shrilly told the blonde, jerking her thumb towards the nearest exit. Summer Rae turned to Chelsea, rolled her eyes, and slipped out of the vinyl-covered chair. She was clearly unhappy with the unfinished product of her hair, the soft curls falling flat despite the amount of hairspray.

But really, Chelsea thought to herself, Summer's nasty-looking fried hair won't get much better than that!


Chelsea ran through the interview a few times with the three men, definitely nervous as hell. The questions were pretty simple: Were they seeing things differently? Is that why Dean had left the other men defenseless in last week's triple tag match? Were they about to see the end of the popular tag team?

Luckily, Seth was so goofy that he made things a little less awkward. He said she'd be fine after she'd mentioned she was a last-minute replacement, but then went ahead and joked that she had spinach in her teeth. Dean looked salty and did his best to ignore her, and she had no idea why. Their training session had gone fine, without any real hitches…so she could only assume that it wasn't her that he was so pissy about.

But then Roman joined the three of them, prepared to take part of the interview. Almost immediately upon seeing him, she felt an embarrassing realization that she was face-to-face to the subject of her dream the night prior. She stiffened when he joined his friends, Chelsea's voice catching as her heart began to beat crazily.

Roman raised an eyebrow at her, signifying that he'd noticed the change in her demeanor. It was like he knew. Like perhaps she was transparent, and he could tell that her subconscious kept trying to hook up with him in dreamland. Instantly, the dream came flooding back to her, the entire room spinning as she recalled it:

Jeff was particularly happy today, and it made Chelsea feel great. Even though she never knew which version of his ever-changing personality to expect at any moment, the man that she'd spent her off-day with was by far her favorite person.

They were giggling, on the swings at the park just across the street from the hotel. Sure, they were high as shit, but it was great acting like a kid again. No cares in the world, and no real obligations except for hanging out with each other.

Jeff pressed his head against Chelsea's, who was sitting on the black plastic swing seat allowing the gentle push of the wind to move her.

"I like the teal in your hair," he told her, brushing his lips against hers as he carefully ran his fingers through the ends that she'd carefully dyed the bright blue color.

"Thank you," she told him, a big smile across her lips. "It looks good on you, too. Even better than the purple."

Jeff smiled back, giving his friend another kiss. This time, though, Chelsea pulled him in closer, deepening their moment. She nibbled his bottom lip, making him quietly moan. Stroking his hair, she grabbed a handful, noticing that it wasn't teal anymore.

It was black.

"You know what looks good on you, Chels? Nothing." Roman smiled as he slipped a finger through her belt loop, pulling her up from the seat.

"Alright, ya'll. We're going to be shooting in three minutes!" someone yelled.

Thankfully, Chelsea was brought back to the real world, startling her enough to shake off the butterflies that she was feeling. She watched as Roman shifted, knowing that the air in the room was oddly stagnant. Instead of looking any of the Shield members, she grabbed the WWE microphone that had been placed near her. She tapped the foam mouthpiece once to ensure it was on.

Something that Chelsea had noticed about her dreams was that they were always actual past events. Memories that she'd tucked away, trying to force from her mind altogether. But the past few had taken an odd turn, morphing the memory with...what? Sexual desire? Fantasy? She couldn't be sure why Roman kept appearing in them. It was like even her psyche had been lusting after the Samoan. The last dream, she'd written off as a fluke. Now, dreaming of Jeff made sense: They were in a painful relationship, elevated by drugs and a whole lot of stupid drama. Not to mention, he was her first real heartache.

One of her goals was that to someday never have to see Jeff again. And that meant in her dreams, too.

Still trying to keep her eyes off from the towering man who seemingly kept getting close to her, Chelsea pretended to be fixated on removing a piece of nonexistent lint from her dress. Tonight, she wore ripped black tights underneath a black and purple cut-out dress, revealing her cleavage just slightly. She was surprised when Vickie had given her the nod of approval on her outfit, especially since it was quite different than the outfit chosen by Stephanie McMahon earlier. The only thing Vickie asked was that she slip on a pair of high heels, which she begrudgingly agreed to.

No matter. If she had to dress up, at least she could wear whatever she wanted tonight.

Chelsea smoothed her dress again, looking down at her legs, and feeling like she was ten feet tall. But, when she looked up and met Roman's eyes, she remembered that she was still a swell 5'6.

"Hey," Roman's voice was velvety smooth. He took a step closer, his combat boots scraping against the floor.

"Er...hey," she replied, her eyes searching his. Questioning his intention.

"Your clip thing is coming undone," he finally said, holding her gaze long enough to be questionable. Roman gently pushed the bobby pin that held her bangs back into place, her eyes bright and wide as he performed such a gentle, noble gesture.

"Much better," he stated. "The world can see your beautiful eyes, now."

"I...thanks," she replied dumbly.

Roman pulled away quickly, clearing his throat. Seth smirked, most definitely aware of the electricity buzzing, but pretending he hadn't noticed. Dean, however, actually hadn't noticed at all. His head had been buried in his iPhone, unaware of the chemistry between his good friend and his...trainee.

"Camera's rolling in thirty!" someone shouted, and cameras began to surround the four. Chelsea took a deep breath, and waited, her eyes locked on the tiny dot of the camera that began to flash red.

Without much trouble besides a few stumbles, she'd managed to make it through the , she hadn't needed to do much talking. The interview was mostly Dean rambling about how the Shield was not going away anytime soon, give or take a few nods and grunts from the other two. During his monologue, Chelsea couldn't help but be mesmerized at how well Dean Ambrose was able to capture emotion in his voice. The interview turned into a short promo, and Chelsea decided that she'd have to watch a few of Ambrose's past interviews to study his craft. She could only hope she would be able to speak as eloquently as he did. Not that she'd ever admit that to him, of course.

Her jitters had completely disappeared, but she knew it was about time to wrap it up.

The Shield's last remarks included a challenge to The Usos. Ambrose, in his twisted own way, asked them to step up their game and meet them in the ring.

Chelsea turned to the camera, flashing her smile brightly. "Sounds like a challenge to me. We'll see what the Usos think about that, next." Of course, the Usos would be coming to the ring after the commercial break in their ring gear as an "answer" to the challenge.

"That's a wrap," one of the men announced, and all three cameras and six or seven people ran off, going on to whatever they had to get to next.

Chelsea breathed a sigh of relief, grateful that she'd managed to get through the first interview with ease. Unfortunately, she still had to interview goddamn Natalya yet. Natalya was going to spout off about her hopes in defeating AJ for the Divas belt, only to be interrupted by the beautiful yet talentless woman known as Eva Marie.

As much as Chelsea wanted to dip out of that particular interview, she'd decided to remain professional. She had to. It was the only chance in repairing her reputation.

"See? You did great," a nasally voice said to her. She didn't need to turn to know which member of the brotherhood had spoken to her. She lightly smiled, beginning to walk down the hallway to meet up with Vickie and get some much-needed feedback before the rest of her interviews. Luckily, if the editors weren't happy with something, they could cut scenes. That was the beauty of the show being taped. Less room for error.

"Thank you, Seth," she answered the man who was now walking alongside her, effortlessly keeping up with her strides.

"Are you doing anything after the show?" he asked, grabbing her elbow. He'd stopped, turning to her with an excited expression. She'd halted, too, without even realizing it.

Is he asking me on a date? Oh, fuck. He's not my type at all...How do I let him down gently?

"Uh…no, but I'm not particularly…"

"Great! I know we've all only just met. But hey, since you're training with the Dean Master, so we might as well all chill. We'll be ordering some pizza tonight, for sure. Ro just rented 2K14, so bring your A-game."

"I don't know, Seth. I appreciate the invite, but it sounds like a bit of a sausage party. Not the kind of party I want to crash…" she trailed off, but Seth put up his hand.

"Knock it off. It might be fun for you. Besides, you said you had nothing going on, anyways. We'll get the details to you later."

But Chelsea gulped as Seth rejoined the other two members, who were trying to figure out which staircase they were supposed to enter from tonight.

Well, that was unexpected. Could tonight get any stranger?

Yes, it could. And it would.