"When darkness sets in, true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within." Elisabeth Kubler-Ross


"In our ring of love this much is true," Chris was growling into the mic. "Never thought that I'd be fighting you…"

Roman was already combing through Paige's long, straight black hair. Fandango mimicked him, but he could feel his fingertips twitching. For sure, he wasn't handling scissors this time or he'd end up accidentally scalping Summer at this rate.

"What are you doing?" she hissed at him.

"And Roman starts things off in this matchup. What's he gonna do—is that an ponytail? Nope, he's going to keep us guessing. His opponent's looking a little out of his depth—looks like Fandango's just bitten off a lot more than he can chew today," Triple H began, "This may be the easiest win in Roman's career."

Out of the corner of Fandango's eye, he could see Roman barely smothering a satisfied grin as Seth handed him his iPad and he showed Paige something on it. Clearly, he already had something in mind while Fandango was still trying to get himself together. Under the pretense of picking out makeup, Fandango hurried over to the cosmetics corner. He needed a breather from Triple H's commentary, which wasn't helping his case.

As he was pondering the shelf of eyeshadows, something cold and distinctly sharp jabbed his shoulder. He turned slowly and met flashing green eyes.

"What the hell are you doing?" Corey hissed as he pointed his shaving blade at Fandango's face.

"What are you doing?" Fandango yelped back. "Get that thing out of my face!"

"Oh." Corey lowered the blade. "Get out there and do your job, dude. Or you can just hand in your resignation right now and salsa your way into the sunset or whatever it is you dancers do."

"Don't stop him," Roman remarked as he sauntered up. "If he wants to hand me an easy win, I'm not gonna say no to that. Besides, Adam tells me Rowan's got a good sense of style—we could always put him up front while Johnny here washes hair or something."

Something hot blazed up inside Fandango, and his hand curled into a fist. It certainly wasn't shaking anymore as he looked his employer straight in the eye. "I will give you a run for your money like you know I can."

Roman didn't flinch, but his eyes hardened. "Oh, will you?"

"The gloves are off! You've hit below the belt!"

"And the action's spilled over to the outside," Triple H announced. "The big guy's doing some trashtalking, and it looks like that's put a little life into his opponent—great, or this would be such a waste of our time. Graves, you're not supposed to be interfering—get yourself and your knife out of the way before I have you arrested."

Corey slunk away, clearly pleased with himself. Fandango turned back to the shelf of makeup, his mind alive and whirring. Summer had been right before—he did understand her the best. He could make her a winner.

He reached for a shimmery pink-gold eyeshadow set, only for Roman to push his hand out of the way. Perturbed, he smacked Roman's hand back in retaliation.

"And Fandango goes after Roman!" Triple H called excitedly. "That's a hard slap, and this is getting personal!" He took a handkerchief out of his pocket and pretended to wipe his forehead.

"Out of my way," Roman snapped.

"Fat chance! You wanted a competition, you got it!"

"Did you just say the word fat to me?"

"Ro, let me know if he needs a chairshot," Seth called.

While Roman was distracted by that, Fandango grabbed the container. "I win!"

Roman responded by knocking him back with his elbow. "I dare you to beat me to the eyeliner!"

"Challenge accepted!"


"And Roman breaks out the curlers! And I'm not sure what he's doing, but I don' t see a lot of dark makeup over here—is he trying to prove that our resident goth isn't just a one-look pony?" Triple H stopped and chuckled to himself. "Heh. Pony."

"Focus," Stephanie commanded.

"Right, sorry. And Fandango's got the straightening iron out—he might be going for the opposite idea. He's got the scissors out too, and he's trimming away at those split ends with perfect precision. He seems to be going for a more classic style—is that a good idea with the visibly older Summer Rae?" Off a glare from his wife, the WWE COO quickly backtracked. "Not that it's not going to look great, because women, like my wife, own that kind of look…Anyway, Paige is getting some nice, big corkscrew curls—boy, does she look YOUNG. I'm getting a real Snow White vibe. Is that BLUSH? Is she actually going to wear BLUSH? Ohhh, Roman is really pulling out the stops here today! Summer Rae's not looking to happy with that development—she's deep in conversation with Fandango now—what they can be planning?"

He stopped to take a swallow of water (none of that Mountain Dew for him—it was dehydrating). "And Fandango's back at work! I see braids—he's not thinking of giving her dreadlocks, is he?" He's twisting the hair up—an updo, I see. That does look great. Back to Roman now—he's applied the blush, and man, he looks confident. He should, because he's got the talent and the chutzpah to put this match away. Takes after me that way. Summer is looking timeless, though—I'd put her in a commercial for Omega. But Paige looks very bright and young—Roman really emphasizing her advantage there. Aaaand, he's finished! Fandango has to be feeling the pressure now—wait, no, he's just even more focused than before. Look at that intensity in his face. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the guy who beat Chris Jericho in at his debut Wrestlemania!"

"Fight for your life, yeaaa—WHAT?" Chris stopped singing and levelled a death glare at the commentator. "That's funny, coming from the one who barely lasted, what, five seconds, at Wrestlemania XII?"

"Shut up, both of you," Stephanie snapped. "I'm trying to watch here."

"But how can I commentate?" Triple H protested meekly.

"Fine, you talk about the match and he can keep singing."

Bray, who had stood up halfway, sat back down, disappointed.

"Fandango's done!" Triple H announced as the former dancer spritzed Summer's hair with hair spray one last time and threw his hands up. "Bring them up here, guys—it's time for us to deliberate."

Roman scrutinized Fandango's work on Summer for the first time, and he felt a coil of worry twist in his stomach. She did look fantastic—he had to admit that he would hire her. She looked high-class and cosmopolitan, and she would undoubtedly bring in the rich older ladies. And he was impressed that Fandango had pulled this off, despite his employee's nerves at the start of the contest.

"You're going to win," Seth assured him quietly as both stylists stepped back to let Triple H and Stephanie get a good look at their models.

"You got this," Adam said to Fandango at the same time. He and Seth narrowed their eyes at each other.

"Lollipop kid."

"Suit boy."

Roman pulled Seth out of the earshot of Fandango and Adam. "I don't know. She looks really good." Hi eyes clouded slightly. "He might be better than me."

"Ro, you're the top guy," Seth said firmly. "You had what it took to build this business, and what it takes to stay there. I'm confident in the future of this team here—those guys as your stylists, me as your marketing guy, and Dean as your model. And later, you're going to make the two of us look so good, no one will ever doubt that you're the best."

"We've reached a decision," Stephanie announced just then as Chris wrapped up his final number. "Chris, give me that mic."

"Who're you betting on?" Bray asked the closest person to his left, who just happened to be Daniel. After bringing his heart rate back down to normal, Daniel scratched his newly trimmed beard. "Hypothetically—and by hypothetically, I mean my soul's not on the line or something—I gotta go with Paige. I mean, what a transformation! She's all cute and girly! You?"

"Summer's true beauty has been unleashed, and it is truly enough to make one weep." Bray commented. "Rowan?"

"You—you're asking for my opinion?"

"Don't sound so shocked," Bray grumbled. "You're more knowledgeable than I am on such matters."

Erick ran a hand over his bald head. "Well, from I can see, they both look terrific—that is some top-notch work right there. But Summer is just glowing and confident, and that has got to give her an advantage. I'm not saying that just because I got promised a seat on the Exotic Express."

Over at one of the dressing tables, Luke held up a hundred-dollar bill. "We're on?"

Corey grinned and slapped his money onto the surface. "Oh yeah. May the best girl win."

"So, both stylists certainly proved their worth to both of us tonight, and my husband Triple H and I would be very glad to support this place," Stephanie began.

Seth beamed at Roman, who blushed and looked mollified. Then he sighed deeply.

"Seth, we're going to let Dean out."

"What? I thought we were keeping him there until closing time."

"This is a big moment for me. He can't not be here."

"We might need to sedate him first," Seth sounded tense. "He was screaming something about haunting me again, and you know how that freaks me out."

"We'll bring him out together. Even if he tries to bite us."

"Steph, let's hold up for a sec—have you guys considered getting a muzzle?" Triple H interjected.

"We tried," Seth responded. "We couldn't breathe in those masks."

Roman had walked over to the back room. "Seth." As Seth joined him, he turned the doorknob slowly.

There was a guttural scream that made everyone wince.

"Here we go."


The song for this chapter is Fight by No Vacancy, taken from the School of Rock soundtrack. Thanks for putting up with the slow updates, and all the reviews and faves are so appreciated! They keep me going and keep me committed to bringing the best I can to this story!