Starting To Cave In

Ava paced her hotel room, wondering if she were making a huge mistake, admitting to Dean Ambrose earlier that she did feel something for him. She knew all about him, his reputation, the things people said, and for some reason, even knowing all of this didn't change the way she felt all that much.

The only thing it did do was make her wonder why on God's green Earth she couldn't just turn off whatever it was that she felt for the guy. Was she just a glutton for punishment where men were concerned?
First, her mother's former husband, Ripley.. And then Ben.. Now, apparently, even though he was the worst kind of wrong for her, according to everyone she knew and everything she'd heard about him, everything she'd seen of him, and everything she knew first hand about the guy, apparently, none of this was going to stop her from feeling whatever it was that she felt for Dean Ambrose.

'Your stepmom is right, Ava.. Are you seriously considering this? With him, of all people? Because you know how he is, what he's capable of." her brain practically screamed at her, over and over again while everything else in her said the exact opposite when they reminded her, 'When Ben tried to take Lola and you.. Who stopped him and nearly got arrested for it? What has he done, exactly, that would indicate that he'd hurt you? And what about the other day, when you saw the little moment between him and your daughter? If he were really the monster people kept claiming, Ava.. Think about it.. If everyone believed everything they thought or heard about you..'

She paced the interior of the medium sized hotel room, biting her nails as she tried to figure this out. Her father's words from earlier also kept bouncing around in her head, his telling her that Dean was never going to be a good guy, or a nice guy. That there was something wrong with him, and one day, whether intentional or not, Dean Ambrose would hurt her.

And her father only had her best interests at heart, right?

And then her subconcious argued this with the old standard, 'Maybe so, Ava, but your dad's always been really, really overprotective of you.. He knows what you went through with your mom and Ripley, and maybe that's clouding his judgement. Maybe that's why they can't see the things in Dean that you can. Maybe if you could show them that he's not a complete monster..'

None of this was helping her decision one way or the other. Then she remembered an earlier conversation with her dad, when she was younger, and he'd given her advice on something.. 'If you want something, Ava, go for it. If your heart and your gut tell you something is right, Ava, even when everyone else says it's not, then do it. Don't let your head do all your thinking or you'll never learn anything, princess.'

"Ughh, fuck." she grumbled as she held Lola in her lap and said quietly, "Mommy's having a really, really hard time figuring this out for us, Lola. On the one hand, she doesn't want to mess up your life even more than she probably already has.. On the other hand, she just thinks.. Forget it." Ava muttered as she leaned back in the chair the two of them sat in.

It was almost 9, if he were going to 'show up' to her non invitation extended earlier, he'd have been here by now. Maybe this was a sign. Maybe he had just been after her to break her or just to amuse himself or for some other reason that wasn't a good one.

"Don't grow up, baby girl, because it sucks." Ava muttered as she started to sing a song she'd heard on the way back from the arena to her daughter, while rocking her back and forth on her lap. "And if you have to grow up, baby girl, don't make mommy's mistakes. Be smart."

'Oh darlin, don't you ever grow up, don't you ever grow up, you can stay this little..' she finished singing, as she giggled to herself at Lola's snoring, she was out like a light now. Standing carefully, she put her daughter in the crib she'd gotten earlier, and put together, pulled the blanket up over the sleeping little girl.

The door being knocked on as it opened partially had her looking up. She bit her lip as she saw him standing in it, leaned casually, his hair still damp from a shower, evidently.

"Wasn't gonna come." Dean muttered as he looked at her, his eyes slowly moving over her body as he turned, looked up the hall, then down the hall before stepping into the room and sitting down.

"Why did you?" Ava asked as she walked towards him, slowly, then sat down on the bed beside him, looking at him.

"Because, I had to find out if what ya said earlier was a game. If you're tryin to fuck with my head, Ava.. It's not smart, because when I'm angry it's not pretty." Dean said calmly, as he fixed his eyes on her, as if he were trying to figure out whether she was screwing with him purely out of boredom, or she'd actually meant what she said earlier.

"Ughh.. If you're trying to be a jerk, Dean, it's working. Look at me. If I didn't mean it, do you really think I'd have said what I did at the arena? If you think I'm only doing this because I'm bored, you really do not know me at all." Ava said as she glared at him, a little angry that naturally, because she was the daughter of HHH and the stepdaughter of Stephanie McMahon, he'd automatically assume that she was only interested in him because she was bored. Or that she was a spoiled little rich girl or something, when nothing could actually be farther from the truth.

He smirked a little as he looked at her then said casually, "You're a hot head."

"Yeah.. I kinda get that from my dad." Ava said as she looked at him, then took a deep breath. In his showing up, in her telling him she did feel something for him, she was fully aware that events were set into motion now.

But would they end up having a good outcome, or a very, very bad one.

"I never got to thank you for stopping Ben from grabbing me and Lola." Ava said quietly as Dean shrugged and said bluntly, "Ya mine. Wasn't gonna just let some guy walk out with ya."

Ava raised a brow, looked up at him and then said calmly, "Neither I or Lola are a possession."

Dean rolled his eyes and then said " Do ya just like to make me mad as hell?"

"No, but the way you said that, it's the way.."

Dean sat quietly, looked at his hands. In some ways, he'd meant it to sound that way, it was a defense mechanism, something he did to see if a person would stick around, or bail on him, as they had the tendency to do when he didn't live up to their expectations, or they realized that there was no saving the man.

"Look. I'm not gonna become some good guy. I'm gonna be me. So if ya just doing this to stir up Daddy? You can find somebody else." he grumbled as Ava laughed and then said "We're not even together, you spend over half the time we're not fighting, or almost kissing, or something trying to shove me away. Just stop it. Look, I'm messed up, you're messed up, I get it."

Dean looked at her with a bitter smirk and then said "Right, because ya had such a hard life."

Ava blinked and then laughed hollowly as she said in a stiff voice, "You don't know a damn thing about me. You only think you do, because of who my dad is, who my stepmother and her family are, how powerful they are. That's not me. None of it."

"Really?"Dean asked, a slight note of sarcasm in his voice as he held her gaze and waited on her to say something else because she acted as if she wanted to.

Ava leaned in closer and then said "For starters.. The only reason that my mother kept me was to stick it to my dad. And then she furthered that by marrying that asshole, Cipriano, and leaving a clause in her will about who'd be my guardian should she die or something. She was always pissed that my dad wouldn't just overlook her cheating on him, or her drug habit, or the drinking. And when he tried to take me away, when I was 4, that's when she basically whored herself out to Ripley Cipriano. Yet she could call my dad and try and weasle money out of him, then go and blow it on plastic surgery or another car, or sexy clothes.. At first, I honestly think that bastard hated me, but then I got older and.."

Dean looked at her, a quick surge of rage surfacing as he waited on her to finish what she'd been about to say. Now he really wanted to get her ex husband and her psychotic adoptive father in the same room and normally, he wouldn't really give a shit.

It sort of made him wonder if this really were all about getting under her skin like she'd gotten under his when he'd first met her.

"And?"

"Do I really have to say the rest, Dean? I mean do I have to draw you a diagram? Long story short, I told my mom, she confronted him and then about a week later, she 'died'. They think I don't remember what happened, but I do. Just not going to say it, because if I did.." Ava trailed off as she said quietly, "He'd do something to make sure I paid for opening my mouth. He'd hurt my dad, or my daughter, or he'd kill me and then Lola wouldn't have either one of her parents.. I mean I know my dad would take care of her, he loves her with all of his heart, but I want to be there for my daughter. Call me selfish, but that little girl is my entire world, and I do not want to leave her alone in this one."

Dean looked at her and then said calmly, "Damn." as he fidgeted uncomfortably, not sure what to do. He'd never been the really emotional type, but hearing all this sort of made him feel like an asshole for just automatically assuming that she was some 'poor little rich girl' who wanted some excitement in her life.

Lola whimpered in her sleep, rolled over and Dean looked cautiously over the side of the playpen then said nonchalantly, "Heard ya singin to her, through the door."

"Yeah, it puts her to sleep." Ava said as she leaned back, watched him looking at the little girl.

"My ma.. She never really did shit like that."

"We're a lot more alike than you thought then, I guess." Ava laughed bitterly as she leaned against him, wary of how close she let herself get to him. She still wasn't sure if this was the worst thing she could possibly do, or the best. She was still so messed up from everything she'd been through, that she wasn't sure whether she should risk this or not, especially given how her father and Dean almost tore each other apart earlier in the locker room.

"She always do that when she's sleepin?" Dean asked in concern as Lola started to whimper in her sleep again. Ava sighed and then nodding said "Yeah. I'm a shitty mother.. If I weren't, I never would have let all this happen."

"Ya not."

"Dean, I am. I exposed her to that.. That monster."

Dean stiffened at the words she used, as the words her father said to him earlier in the locker room back at the arena echoed around in his mind, yet again.

"Dean?"

"Yeah?"

"I don't care what everyone else thinks, okay? I'm not going to sit here and judge you based on what I've heard rumors about."

"Ya say that now, but trust me.. I'm not a good guy. Never will be." Dean muttered as Ava leaned in and slid partially into his lap, sitting there, looking at him. She was trying to figure out how to explain to him what she saw when she looked at him.

Not what he saw or what everyone else saw.

Dean raised a brow at where she sat at currently, and how she was leaning in closer. He still couldn't figure out what her intentions were, or why the hell she wasn't doing the smart thing and running. But he leaned in too and muttered, "Not smart to play with fire, Ava." as his hand slid to the back of her neck, pulling her lips into his.

Ava ran her fingers through his hair and then muttered back, "I could say the same for you, Ambrose. I mean when you saved me and Lola the other day, from getting taken by Ben, you probably pissed off over half of that little mob family."

"Fuck 'em." Dean mumbled as he nipped at her lower lip, slipping his tongue past, his free hand gripping her hip as he pulled her closer, deepened the kiss.

Lola started to cry and Ava sat there a moment, resting her forehead against his as she went to stand, grabbing Lola's bottle. Dean stood and walked into the small kitchen area of the suite, his arms going around her from behind as he muttered, "Hope ya know, ya crossed a huge line in there."

Ava shrugged as she mixed up the formula for Lola's bottle and then turned and found herself chest to chest with him as she said "That was sort of my intention. But if this is just some game to you.."

"If it was a game, I woulda gotten bored by now. Ya pretty damn good at playin hard to get."

"I have to be. My daughter's my whole world and I do not want to screw up her life."

Dean walked into the room behind her and then said "Let me hold her." as Ava looked at him, her brow raised.

If he was playing a game to get in her pants, then he was damn good at hiding his real intentions from her. She let him take Lola from her and he sat down then said "Ughh. Poor kid.. This shit even smells nasty. Lola, I think we need to tell your ma that ya want somethin else. Might be why ya spit up so much."

"It's good for her. And she spits up, Dean, because she's a baby. They do that. A lot."

"Yeah, but.. It still smells like it tastes like shit. And I know that, Ava, but really.. Have ya smelled this formula?"

While holding the little girl, he found himself getting an odd feeling, really. He quickly shoved it out of his mind, because odds were, he'd fuck everything up before it ever happened.

He handed Lola back to Ava, and then smirked when he said "She's out. Again."

"Wow.. Who would have thought, Mr. Badass can put a little girl to sleep."

"Hell, I'll give ya one better. Who woulda thought a kid would actually like me?" Dean joked as Ava rolled her eyes and then said "It's not that you're not a kid person, it's just that kids can tell when an adult's scared of 'em."

"I'm not scared of her."

"You are."

Once Lola was back in her crib, Dean and Ava sat around talking for a while, then he got up to leave, go back to his room. Once he'd left and went back into his room, Ava realized that she might as well face it. One way or another, she was going to cave in. It was probably already too late for her, actually, the kiss had probably finished the caving in.

Now she just had to hope that her heart and her conscience, her gut feeling about what she was doing, how she felt, were actually right and that this didn't blow up in her face.

Down the hallway, the man smirked to himself as he dialed a number, and then said "Hey Ben? Yeah, you were right.. She is with that asshole who nearly beat the living hell out of you when you tried to take her back home where she belonged. Do you still want me to do what we discussed?"

Ben glared at the phone and then said with a smirk, "Whatever it takes." before hanging up the phone. There was no way he was losing his 'place' in the organization just because Ripley's daughter was renegging on their agreement and leaving him. And there was no way that some stranger was going to raise his kid.

"Ava, babe, you really are a stupid girl.. Do you really think I'm just gonna let you leave with our daughter? And make a fool of me in front of Ripley and all the guys?" he muttered to himself as he sat in the darkness of his den, sipping a Scotch and staring into his fireplace.

Soon enough, everything would be his, no matter what he had to do to get to the top.

He didn't care, and the bitch was going to pay for humiliating him like she had when she'd 'run home' to daddy.