"Are you sure you're okay with this?"

"Yeah, it's fine."

"I don't really want you to feel put out."

"Why would I feel put out?" AJ asked. "It's your house too, and now it's Briley's house, it's fine, we have the room, we never have anyone who stays, and it's fine. Besides, this means we can leave the kid behind and Briley can take care of him."

"That's a good point," he said, "I just didn't want you to feel like I didn't include you in this because I know I kind of agreed to it before talking with you, and it's just because I've been so used to being on my own and making decisions for myself, I kind of made a huge one without asking the person I'm currently living with."

"And I'm saying that it's fine. I mean, think about it, how many girls would love to be in my place, living with the two of you, I mean, I'm living the dream, baby," she said, giggling as if she made the funniest joke ever. "I'm fine about it. As long as he doesn't walk around naked, I think we'll be cool."

"I don't want him walking around naked either," Dolph shuddered. "And are you sure you don't mind me going out tonight?"

"No, I don't, it's your school's homecoming week, and all your old friends are around, isn't this a time you should be catching up?" AJ asked, reaching out her hand across the back of the couch where Dolph was resting his hand and lacing their fingers together. "I mean, you've only told me about 75 people that you wanted to see."

"You can come, you know."

"I know, but it's at a bar, and you know I hate those," she shook her head, "and you're all going to be cheering for a team I don't care about in the Indians, and I won't know anyone, and you'll all know each other, and you know how I am in large social situations…"

He laughed and squeezed her hand, "Okay, okay, you have about a million excuses, but I was just extending the invitation to you, and even though I wish you were coming so I could show you off, it's fine."

"Your mom is taking me out to dinner anyways, so it's not like I'm going to have nothing to do. I think she likes having me around because she's usually surrounded by boys."

"Well, considering she has three sons and a husband, and none of her sons are married and I'm the only one with a girlfriend, yeah, I'd say she likes having you around," Dolph nodded. AJ nodded as well before she scoot over and leaned against him. "You don't have to come tomorrow to the football game."

"I know, but you specifically came here for that, and you invited me, and it could be fun. I mean, you watch me play my video games and I know that's not fun for you, so I can return the favor. Besides, didn't you say we got a box?"

"Yeah, problem is it's with Miz."

"Oh yes, your burgeoning friendship with him now that you don't hate each other anymore," AJ said, wrapping her arms around him. "I guess once you stop acting like a complete tool, everyone loves you, maybe I should try that sometime."

"It only matters if I love you," he told her.

"Wow, so you just want to keep me away from the world, lock me up in that ivory tower, make sure nobody ever has any access to me?"

"Yup, that's exactly what I want to do, lessens the chance of you finding someone better," he told her and she laughed hard at that, burying her face into his t-shirt. "You laugh now, but someone better could come along, you could fall madly in love with some guy and leave me in the dust."

"You're the crazy one in this relationship," she mumbled against his shirt. "That's not going to happen."

"Sure it isn't, you don't even know how much of a catch you really are."

"Stop," she could feel her cheeks burning, and she buried her face further into her t-shirt. Dolph's cell phone buzzed, and he grabbed it from his pocket and looked at it.

"Oh, that's my friend, Dan, he's going to be here in like five," Dolph said.

AJ pulled away and sat back. "Have fun tonight, but please be safe, and if you guys don't have like a designated driver or something or if you've had too much, just call me, and I will come pick you up, alright?"

"I'm not planning on doing much drinking," he told her.

"Yes, but even so, just be safe, I don't need you getting hurt or worse," she told him, grabbing his face in her hands, "and just have fun with your friends, don't think about work, don't think about Damien on Sunday, just have fun, got it?"

"Okay, you have fun with my mom, make sure no strange guys try to pick her up."

"Oh, I will definitely make sure," she said, leaning forward and kissing Dolph. He pulled her by the waist into his lap and she swung her leg over his for a short, impromptu make out session.

"Get a room!" Don called out, walking by the living room and seeing his son and AJ making out. AJ laughed against Dolph's mouth and pressed her forehead against his as Dolph groaned and closed his eyes in embarrassment.

"AJ, are you ready…oh, I'm sorry, am I interrupting something?" Kelly said, coming into the living room with her purse. "Although, if I was, I'd much rather you do it somewhere else and not on my brand new couch. I don't want to have to pay to get it cleaned."

"Oh my God, I've officially died and gone to hell," Dolph said.

AJ ran her hand through her hair, "Sorry, Kelly, your son is insatiable, he can't keep his hands off me."

"And now it's getting worse," Dolph leaned his head back against the couch, closing his eyes. AJ laughed and climbed off his lap.

She walked around the couch, leaning over and kissing his lips quickly while he was bent backwards, "I'll see you later, remember what I said, I'm just a phone call away."

He opened his baby blues and smiled up at her, "You have fun too, I love you."

"I love you too," she whispered to him, walking out the door with Kelly after grabbing her bag. "I'm starving, I know you're paying, but I will feel slightly bad running up the bill with the five courses I will probably consume tonight."

"Eat all you want, you'll work it off later," Kelly said, "I mean, you're defending your title by plowing through that entire division. And Brie on Sunday is not even going to be a challenge for you. Besides, you have Tamina there if Nikki tries anything funny."

"I think I can definitely take her, and yeah, having Tamina there is a huge plus, she's tough. I know she's going to want to face me at some point, but until then, I'll just have her there to have my back."

"And that Brie, I saw her on Total Divas, that whole thing about losing three pounds when she's already thin as a rail, I wanted to shake her and tell her she needed to eat instead, that's why I like you, you're not afraid to actually have a meal."

"I think I would literally kill someone if I was to go on a liquid diet," AJ laughed. "And that someone would probably be your son because he'd probably eat burritos the entire time and make fun of me."

"Sounds like him," Kelly said. "I'm glad he found you…I know it wasn't under the best circumstances, I know that you were upset and he was part of that, but I didn't raise my sons to treat women horribly, and I'm glad he recognized that."

"He's a good guy," AJ said as they climbed into the car. "He's the best guy actually."

Kim smiled, "I like hearing that, makes me think I didn't raise three losers."

AJ giggled, "Well, now that Briley is living with us, I can report the behavior of two of your sons."

"You really don't mind he's staying with you, I know you've told Dolph that you don't mind, but I know it can be a little weird."

"No, it's not at all, Briley and I were friends before this. We knew each other through some mutual people, and I like him, not as much as Dolph obviously, but if anything, I think I'm going to be breaking up some arguments."

"Probably so," Kim said. She smiled at AJ before pulling the car out, "I figured since I was getting you alone tonight, and I so rarely do since my son is always hanging off you that I could take the opportunity to tell you how happy you actually make him. I know he'd get embarrassed if I said this in front of him, but I needed you to know it, just in case anything ever happens or you ever doubt it, I've never seen him happier than he is with you. And it's a lot that he keeps bringing you around because I think the most I ever met one of his girlfriends was twice. And that's saying a lot."

"I love him," AJ shrugged. "He's…Dolph."

Kelly laughed, "I'll pretend like I know what that means. I just hope you stick around for a while."

"I hope so too."

AJ looked down at the gargantuan jersey that hung down to her knees. She put her arms down and the sleeves practically went down to her hands. She looked up at her boyfriend, "I cannot possibly wear this, it looks like a dress, and not even a pretty dress, and I look like a weirdo. Where did you even get this? Who wore this, the Great Khali?"

"I found it in Donny's closet, he's bulkier than I am," Dolph said. "You do look kind of cute in it though."

"How did you get a custom jersey with Show-Off on it sent to you by the team where I get nothing? I could have had a really cute one."

"Oh, you mean like this," he said, going over to his dresser and pulling out a package. Her jaw dropped and she glared at him, folding her arms, which made her look silly with the size of the jersey she was wearing.

"You hid that from me! Why would you do that!"

"I just wanted to see you wearing that jersey," he said, leaning down to kiss her, but she pulled away at the last second. "I wanted to see you look cute! You can't blame me for that. You should take that, wear that to bed."

"Let me remind you this is your brother's jersey," AJ told him.

"Yeah, you just took all the sex appeal out of that one," he scrunched his face up and handed her the package. "I think you'll like this one better, but that's just a hunch."

AJ grabbed the package, ripping open the paper surrounding it. Once unwrapped, she saw it was a brown Browns jersey like the one the team had given Dolph. She wasn't a fan of football, so it was fine for her to have a jersey of a random team that her boyfriend happened to like. She pulled it up and turned it around. She squealed when she saw the back said Black Widow on it. She held it up against her and turned to her boyfriend, grinning like an idiot.

"This is amazing! I love it," she said, tossing the jersey on the bed and pulling off the huge one she was wearing. Dolph smirked at her, and she tilted her head, "Are you going to always give me that look when you see me without a top on?" He nodded eagerly. "You're such a boy." She grabbed her new jersey and pulled it on, twirling around in it. "How do I look now?"

"Now you look hotter than I've ever seen you before," he told her, gathering her up in his arms. "Look at us, wearing matching football jerseys, we've become that couple, babe, the one that everyone hates."

"Wasn't that us before?" she asked.

"Yeah, I guess you're right, everyone's been jealous of us since the second they knew we were together."

The game was boring. She knew that Dolph was into it, and he did his best to explain everything to her, but there came a point where she just stopped caring, and he stopped trying to make her care. She sat with him in the seats provided in the front of the box and leaned her head on his shoulder as he watched the game. Sometimes she had to move away when his team did something good, and sometimes she had to watch him high five Miz, which was something she never thought she'd see.

Miz actually wasn't that bad. She didn't talk to him much, but when she did, he was nice, and he didn't call her crazy or make fun of her. She wondered if Dolph said something to him at some point telling him to be nice to her because it was really out of character for him. Whatever it was, it was actually nice to be around people who didn't think she was crazy. Some of Dolph's college friends were there too, and they regaled her with stories of his wild college days. She liked hearing about Dolph's past because it gave her future ammo.

"So he runs into class, and he's got bright pink shorts on and he tries to tell us that it was the only thing he had clean, but we knew he just liked dressing like it was the 80's," one of Dolph's friends, Tony, said.

"I think he still has those shorts!" AJ covered her face. "He has this ratty old pair of pink shorts that he wears around the house, and I swear, they look so stupid on him."

"He loved those shorts, don't let him try and tell you that they were just what he had laying around, he loved those shorts."

"What are you talking about?" Dolph came up behind AJ and wrapped his arm around her chest.

"Your pink shorts."

"What? No, come on, man!" Dolph groaned and hung his head down.

"Baby, are those the same shorts you wear around the house? The ones with the black piping on them?"

"Those are so the shorts!" Tony laughed.

"Okay, yes, they are the shorts," he told her, and she started giggling. "I'm getting her away from you, stop telling my girlfriend stories about me, God. Come on, babe, let's go where there aren't people who used to know me."

"AJ, remind me to tell you later about the time he woke up in front of the Art building."

"Oh, definitely," AJ said as Dolph pulled her towards the table filled with food. She grabbed a plate and a couple small sandwiches. "Your friends are nice and filled with embarrassing information about you."

"You having more fun in here then?"

"Yeah, the game is kind of boring, sorry, babe, but I like being like this with you and with people you know and are friends with," she said, taking a bite of her sandwich then offering it to him. He took a bite of it as she swallowed. "It's nice just being a normal couple, you know, who do normal couple things like going to football games."

"As opposed to abnormal type things like…"

"Getting beat up by people or people wanting us to be spies," AJ said. "I know we haven't totally discussed the Stephanie thing, but—"

"She can wait," Dolph said, "she put you in a Fatal Four-Way and did nothing to stop her ex-husband from putting me in matches against The Shield and the Wyatts, so she can stew around for a while."

"Okay…okay."

"And we'll just be a normal couple."

They got to be a normal couple for a few more days then it was back to work. Even though Dolph was upset he was put on the PPV pre-show, he still intended to put on a match that everyone would remember. He kind of wished that it was at least for the briefcase so the match had some sort of meaning, but nope, it was just a match. He was tired of that though, he wanted back into the title picture, and he hoped he'd get the opportunity soon. Hell, maybe with the WWE title finally on the line again tonight, he could go against whomever won that one.

"You ready to go out there and rock the show," AJ said then gave a funny look, "I really don't even know where that came from, and I sincerely apologize for that. Wow, that was just terrible."

He laughed, knowing she was trying to ease his nerves before his match. He always got too amped up before matches, too much adrenaline. He jumped around a lot just to try and ease some of it. AJ watched him from the couch because she knew his drill. She had her own match to prepare for, but she had time between his match and hers that she could get ready afterwards. She ended up walking with him to the gorilla so she could watch from back there, and she gave him a kiss for luck.

"One win, one win can start a streak," AJ told him, and he nodded, no words needed to be said after that, and he walked through the curtain.

He hated his spot on the show more than ever because it felt like the crowd wasn't even really ready for the show, but whatever, he couldn't think about that when Damien Sandow awaited him. Sandow was not a pushover, and he was a really good wrestler, so Dolph couldn't just overlook him. This would be a fierce match no matter where it took place. He did his Ziggle Wiggle and headed down to the ring to start this night off right.

He was going to win, AJ was going to win, and they were going to celebrate.

He got into the ring and he and Damien locked up. There was a lot of back and forth to start, neither one really getting any kind of upper-hand. They'd never faced each other, so they had to feel each other out. Dolph had seen many of his matches, but seeing and doing were two different thing. Damien took control, hitting Dolph in the back, and Dolph writhed around on the mat. Dolph was able to get a pin, but Damien worked his way out of it.

It was more back and forth, but finally, after targeting Damien's seemingly injured knee, Dolph was able to get the Zig Zag and the win. It felt good to win the match, and he was happy for it. It would set the tone for AJ later. He went backstage, and like he figured, she was right there to congratulate him. She hugged him tightly and he hugged her back. She wasn't in her ring gear so she must have stayed back there to watch his match.

"I'm so proud of you," she told him. "I knew you could do it, and Damien is really good, so that's like even better, you beat a really good wrestler by being the better wrestler."

"Thanks, babe, now it's your turn."

AJ went out confidently for her match, Tamina behind her. The Bellas were staring at her from the ring, those mean girl looks of theirs on their face. AJ stopped in front of the ring, kissing her title before she climbed inside, handing over the title to the referee. The match started and AJ yelled some trash talk to Brie, who slapped her in the face, surprising her. AJ shook it off, but Brie grabbed her and laid some punches on her.

Brie got the better of her, but AJ took a tactic out of her boyfriend's book and ran out of the ring to regroup. Brie tried to come after her, but Tamina did her job and stood in front of Brie, not allowing her near AJ. It was a departure from Big E, who didn't really do that for her now that she thought about it. AJ ran back into the ring, Brie following suit, but it allowed AJ to grab the Bella twin, but Brie flipped her over for a pin attempt. AJ easily kicked out of it. Brie picked AJ up and slammed her into the turnbuckle, throwing AJ's head back.

She was picked up again and slammed into another turnbuckle and her head whipped back, hitting the ringpost and Brie followed that up by slamming AJ's face into the turnbuckle. AJ blinked a couple times, feeling the effects of the moves, but she shook them off as best she could, trying to focus on the match at hand. She was not going to lose her title to a Bella. She would not suffer that fate. AJ grabbed the back of her head, which was sore, but was rewarded with a dropkick.

Brie attempted another pin, but AJ kicked out. AJ was eventually able to throw Brie into the ringpost, making her fall outside the ring. She grabbed the back of her head again, she must have hit it harder than she thought. AJ climbed out of the ring, yelling that she'd make sure Brie was okay, throwing Brie back into the ring. AJ tried a pin, but barely got a count before Brie kicked out.

AJ took the upper-hand, working on Brie's arm, transitioning into a bridge hold, which she knew her boyfriend would appreciate. She looked better doing this than he had in his misguided attempt at the Black Widow at the last PPV. There was a bit of a back and forth, but once again AJ had the upper-hand, but wasn't able to get the pin. She got a little cocky though, and after skipping around the ring was met with a dropkick from Brie. Brie tried for a sloppy pin, but AJ wasn't about to go out like that.

Brie took the offensive now, but still wasn't able to get the pin. Tamina grabbed Nikki, and started choking her out. AJ didn't know she was going to do that, but that's what back-up should do for you, that's what a heavy was for. She quickly rolled up Brie and got the pin. AJ grabbed her title as Tamina escorted her up the ramp. She staggered backstage, and Dolph was right there, already showered and dressed, and enveloped her in a hug.

"You won!" he said.

"Yeah, I won, I did it, we both did it," she said, hugging him back. "That was pretty brutal though, Brie did better than I thought she would."

"And you still came out on top, thanks, Tamina," Dolph said to the other woman. "You were brilliant."

"I know how to win," Tamina said, walking away without another word. She was so strange, Dolph thought, she just came and went, and she didn't really bother to do anything otherwise. Well, maybe that was what you needed out of a heavy.

"You would have had that match regardless of Tamina though," Dolph whispered into her ear. "I love when you use my moves, it's so sexy, and when you show off, even sexier."

"I'm going go to shower and…stuff," AJ said, smiling up at him. Dolph was about to ask her a question when she leaned up to kiss him. "Can we go home? I want to go home."

"Hey, you okay?" Dolph asked, holding onto her shoulders. He studied her face. She looked tired and worn out, and a little bit pale. But there was just something that seemed a little off with her.

"Yeah, yeah, fine, just tired," she said, giving him a crooked smile, "I'm going to shower now and…stuff."

"AJ, are you sure you're okay? I would feel better if you went to the trainer's room," Dolph told her.

"Ziggy, I'm fine," she said, squinting at him. "I just need a shower, and I'm tired from my match, that's all, okay, man, I just…I'm tired."

Dolph was still concerned, but he knew she would be inclined to fight with him if he didn't give into her right now. "Okay, go take a shower. I'm going to stay here and watch the Rhodes match, is that okay?"

"Yeah, it's fine," she said, walking off, adjusting the title on her shoulder. Dolph frowned as he watched her walk away. She wasn't herself, and he could tell. He was going to get her checked out as soon as she was out of the shower. He turned towards the monitor, but was distracted the entire time watching the match between The Shield and the Rhodes family. He noticed a lot of guys come into the area to watch the match as well.

This was relevant for everyone because this was a group of guys going against the dictatorship that was happening right now. It was important to see the outcome. Dolph thought that maybe AJ would turn up during the match, but she didn't show. After the Rhodes won, everyone was going out there to celebrate with them, so he followed suit even though he felt a little out of place. He and Cody had struck up an odd kind of friendship since the night of Payback when he gave him a ride to the hotel after his fight with AJ, but it wasn't anything worth noting.

When he went backstage again, he headed straight for his locker room. He found AJ sitting on the couch. She was showered and dressed but just sitting there, staring straight ahead. Dolph cleared his throat and she slowly looked over to him. "Oh, hey, I was waiting for you."

"By staring into space?" he asked unconvincingly.

"I didn't have anything better to do," AJ said, "I was just going over the match in my mind."

"Okay, hey, um, why don't we get you checked out," he said, going over to her slowly, like she was a wild animal and he was trying to capture her.

"Why? I'm fine, nothing broken. My elbow is fine, still sore, but it's getting better," she rubbed her shoulder slowly, that same glazed look coming over her face. "I'm fine, Ziggy, I'm fine."

"Babe, Jeannie, I just want you to get checked out," he told her, lowering his head so he could make eye contact with her. "That's all. I was watching your match, and you kept grabbing the back of your head, did you hit it?"

"I…I don't remember hitting it, no," AJ said, "I probably just got whiplash or something."

"Okay, well, I'd still feel better if you were checked out."

"I'm fine," she told him, "I'm here, right, like, I'm right here." She stood up and walked over to him, but tripped a little bit, shaking her head. That was enough for Dolph. He scooped her up into his arms and started carrying her towards the door. "Dolph, what are you doing?"

"We're going to the trainer's right now, don't argue with me," he told her. "So just don't, okay?"

"But—"

"Don't," he told her again, his voice firm and strong. She shut her mouth and let him carry her down the hallway, everyone looking at them strangely, but Dolph had one singular purpose. He pushed open the door to the trainer's and set AJ down on the table in there. "She needs to be checked out, and she needs to be checked out now."

"What's going on?" the trainer asked.

"She's been weird since her match, and she's kind of off balance," he said. He knew that feeling, he'd experienced that feeling. "I want her checked."

"I'm fine, he's overreacting," AJ said. "He's just a big baby."

"No, I'm not, I'm your boyfriend who loves you and wants you to get checked out," Dolph said, standing back as the trainer asked AJ some questions while looking into her eyes. Dolph folded his arms as he watched.

"Well, it could be a very mild concussion, at least right now it's nowhere near as bad as yours was. AJ, do you have a headache?"

"A little, but I was just in a match."

"Okay, well, I want you to take tonight to rest, and I want to check you out tomorrow."

"Just like that?" Dolph said.

"Yes, keep an eye on her, if her symptoms worsen take her to the ER."

"Gee, thanks," Dolph said, picking AJ up again. She swatted at him until he let her down. He grabbed her hand and led her out of the room. "We're going back to the hotel now, I'm not staying for the rest of the show, I don't care what happens."

"You're overreacting, there's nothing wrong, I'm fine."

"Yeah, you keep saying that, and I keep not believing it."

They went back to the hotel, and Dolph spent most of the night watching AJ. She slept, but it seemed fitful, and eventually, he himself succumbed to sleep, but not before pulling AJ against him. When he woke up after a few hours of sleep, she was still in his arms and he held her tighter before he fell back asleep.

The second time he woke up, she was up and coming out of the bathroom. Coming out was probably too nice a word for it. She staggered out, falling onto the bed and lying face down. Dolph crawled over and turned her over. Her eyes were still closed, but he could tell immediately that something was wrong. She was clammy, and he ran his hand down her cheek.

"You were throwing up right then, weren't you?" She nodded silently. "AJ, tell me about your match last night?"

"I won," she said simply, her hair fanning her face, and damn, even right now she was so staggeringly beautiful that it nearly distracted him from the task at hand.

"No, I want to know details. What move of mine did you do during your match?"

"I did one of your moves?" she asked, her face turning into one of concentration. "I remember…going out there, and I remember pinning her, I rolled her up, there was something distracting her."

"What else do you remember?"

"Um…I walked around the ring…maybe I ran, I hit…Nikki, did I hit Nikki, did Tamina hit Nikki. Can you make the room stop spinning, baby? It's just spinning so much, and I just…I just want to sleep and…did you win last night?"

"Okay, we're going in early," Dolph said, "you have a concussion."

"What? No, I remember yesterday, I didn't forget like you."

"Thank God for that, idiot trainer saying you didn't have a concussion immediately, just observe her my ass," he said, getting out of bed. He pulled some clothes from his suitcase and got dressed. AJ tried to stand up to get dressed too, but she swayed a little and nearly fell to the floor if Dolph didn't have quick reflexes and get over to her.

"The room hurts," AJ told him pathetically. "Dolph, the room hurts."

Dolph now realized, in full effect, why AJ cost him the match against Del Rio. In that moment, her thought process became so incredibly clear to him. He got it. He got all of it. He got why she would so blatantly interfere, he understood why she would be trying to protect him because the tables had suddenly turned, and he was sitting here, looking at his girlfriend, who couldn't' remember her match, and who was begging him to make the room stop spinning.

The same bolt of fear that must have coursed through her in that one moment where Del Rio was going to hit him in the head with his knee brace was coursing through him now. His girlfriend was injured, her head was hurting her, and he sat there for five weeks wondering if he would ever get to wrestle again, and he didn't want that for his girlfriend.

"I know, babe, I know," he hugged her to him, kissing the crown of her head. "It'll be okay."

"My head hurts, I didn't want to say it, but it hurts, like it just…hurts."

"I know," he said again. "I'm going to help you get dressed, and we're going to head down to work early. I know the trainers and the doctors are there early because they have their meetings and stuff, so we're going to get down there."

"Okay, if you say so," she said, and he helped her sit down on the bed. He got dressed quickly before grabbing some clothes for her. She was in bad shape, he could tell, and the symptoms must have worsened overnight. He cursed himself for falling asleep. He should have just taken her to the hospital. He helped her put her clothes on, even pulling on her socks and shoes for her before he headed down to the arena.

Thankfully, the doctors were there, and Dolph took her straight there. After doing a few more tests, and actually doing a thorough examination, they lowered the boom. She had a concussion and she was being sent home. Dolph cursed everything in the world because this was not supposed to happen. His girlfriend was not supposed to have a concussion.

"How bad is it?" Dolph asked.

"Not as bad as yours, you lost two days, she's having troubles with her memory, but not to the same extent. We still want her to take it easy, unfortunately, you know the drill and so does she because you just got over yours. Are you going on the international tour?"

"Shit," Dolph muttered. He cursed this damn company. He couldn't go home with her. He would have to fly halfway across the world when all he wanted to do was take care of his girlfriend. Life could not be more unfair than it was right now.

"I wouldn't recommend she fly home by herself."

Dolph blew out his breath. He could ask E to take her, but he didn't really want to put him out like that. Then he realized his mom was only a couple hours away, and she wouldn't hesitate to help out, and it would give her the opportunity to see his brother, so it seemed perfect. He told the trainer he had a person to take her home, and he helped his girlfriend down the hallway.

"I have a concussion," AJ told him like he didn't know. He sat down on the couch in his locker room, and she laid her head in his lap. He stroked her hair, knowing that her head was probably pounding right now.

"We're going to get you home. I still have Abu Dhabi, but I'm going to call my mom and ask her to escort you home."

"I like your mom. She wants me to marry you, you know."

"I know," he told her. "She tells me that too."

"I would, you know," she told him. "If you asked me right now, I would."

"I love you for that, but it's not happening," he said as he pulled out his phone and dialed his mom.

"What did you need, son of mine?" his mom asked.

"I need a huge favor, Mom," he told her.

"Okay," his mother turned serious. "Is everything okay? I was just watching Battleground last night, and you and AJ both won, so I'm not sure why I'm getting this bad feeling that you need a huge favor. Did you and AJ have a fight?"

"No, AJ got a concussion during her match last night. She's in bad shape right now, not as bad as I was, but she's being sent home. I can't go, obviously, because I have Raw tonight, I'm booked on it, and I have the international tour. I just need someone to fly home with her. Briley's there, so he can take care of her—"

"I'm on my way, you're in Pittsburgh, right?"

"Thank you so much, Mom."

"This isn't even a situation where I should be thanked. I'll pack a bag, if you can book the tickets, we'll be good to go."

"Okay, I just don't want her to be alone, and there's no way that I can stay when I've been advertised, and it's the worst possible timing for me to go away—"

"Stop, it's not your fault," Kelly said. "I'll tell your father I have to go, and I'm practically in the car now."

"Thanks, Mom."

"I'll see you soon."

Dolph noticed that AJ was sleeping, and so he gently moved away from her. He wanted to go ask Stephanie if she could switch his match. He knew his mom could drive them to the airport, but he wanted to make sure he spent as much time with AJ before she left. He didn't want to go overseas, but he had no choice, so he had to leave her care to someone else. He knew she did the same for him when she had to go back to work, but there were at least a few days where it was just her taking care of him, and he hated that he couldn't return the favor.

He hated that his girlfriend was hurting, and he had to leave. When he came back after seeing Stephanie, he felt better about the entire thing. He could have his match then make sure she and his mom got away alright. About an hour before the show, his mom and his dad showed up. He was surprised to see his dad until they explained that she drove his mother there so she wouldn't have to park her car at the airport, which made sense.

"Where is she?" Kelly asked.

"Locker room," Dolph said. "She's been resting. We brought all our stuff here, so I can drive you to the airport right after my match. I got you on the last flight of the night, got lucky with that one. It departs at 10:10, it'll be cutting a little close, but you should be okay, my match is first after the opening segment, so we can leave right after."

"Okay," Kelly said as Dolph pushed open the door to his locker room. AJ was resting on the couch, curled up into a little ball. Dolph walked over to her and ran his hand over her hair, kissing her forehead.

"Hey, babe, my mom's here," Dolph told her, and Kelly was struck by the tenderness and fear in her son's eyes. AJ fluttered her eyes open and looked at him. "Hey, I know you're probably feeling horrible right now, and I get it, babe, I do, but you're going to go home with my mom, and she and Briley are going to take mediocre care of you since neither one is me, and I will be calling you every five minutes."

"I love you," she said hazily.

"I love you too, now, I have a match, but as soon as that's over, I'll come back here for you."

"Win," she told him.

"I will, just for you."

And he did. He went out there for his match, put on his bravest face, and he won for his girl. Under any other circumstances, she would be waiting backstage with a hug and encouraging words about how this was two, how you could build off two. Two was a streak. He was glad for the win, and usually, he'd feel ecstatic after his recent losing streak, but all he wanted was to get back to her. When he got back to his locker room, he saw AJ still lying down, but she was awake and resting her head in his mother's lap.

"Did you win?" AJ asked.

"Yeah, I did, like I said I would," he told her. She smiled at him, and he wished he could take everything she was feeling away. He knew that feeling so well, he knew the fog that settled over his brain, the ineffectualness of every part of him. He knew the dizziness, the headaches, the memory loss, the balance issues because he'd lived them, and she had to watch that, and he was just so overcome with sadness that she had to live what he went through.

Still, she smiled.

"Two is a winning streak, baby, two is a streak."