I recovered quickly from my injuries and the next week went back to RAW with Colby because Stephanie and Paul wanted to talk to me and make sure that I was alright. I was a little nervous to see them, because I had kept good on my promise to sue Brock Lesnar and had been to a lawyer and lodged the necessary papers to get compensation.
I had no idea what was going on other than I had heard that Brock had been served the papers. Colby held on to my hand as we walked through the halls of the arena nervously. He had assured me that I was not in trouble and that WWE had supported me the whole way through the ordeal. They had paid for my medical bills as I had been in physical therapy and in and out of the chiropractor all week because of the damage that had been done to my ribs and my lower back.
"Hey Rubie, it's good to see you. Come sit down!" Steph said as she opened the door of the office and invited Colby and I in. We sat down on two chairs that were opposite the desk that Stephanie sat at. "How are you feeling?" She asks as she sits down opposite us and pours herself a glass of water.
"I'm feeling alright, I've been in and out of PT but I'm feeling better." I tell her with a polite smile. I don't believe that someone like Steph actually cares about how I'm feeling; I think she's just being polite before she gets to the point. Not that I don't think she's a great person; I just don't think she has time in her busy life to be my friend.
"As long as you're recovering that's the main thing." She nods and then looks at Colby. "Would you mind giving us a few minutes, Colby?" She asks again politely. Colby glances at me nervously and I nod at him reassuringly and he leaves the room. "Sorry about that I just wanted to have a quick work with you. I was contacted by Brock yesterday about the lawsuit that you've lodged." She explained and I nodded my head.
"Oh right, he did explain that it has nothing to do with the WWE, right?" I asked nervously. I hoped that she wasn't going to try and talk me out of suing him.
"Oh yes, don't panic, Brock just thought that rather than going through lawyers it might be easier to communicate through me." She started and I tilted my head to the side curiously, what the hell did that mean? "Don't panic it's not a big deal, basically, Brock doesn't want to go to court, he wants to keep the whole ordeal out of the public eye. Which is why I have this piece of paper right here, it's has an amount that Brock feels is more than enough for compensation for all your pain and suffering plus the expenses of the medical bills for the future." She explains and I frown. Compensation was obviously on the cards because I was suing him but I hadn't thought that he would cave right away. It hadn't even occurred to me that my suing Brock would be bad media for him and the WWE.
Stephanie slid the small piece of paper across the desk and I leaned forward to pick it up and unfolded it. I gasped at the amount I saw written on the small piece of paper. That was more money than I had seen in my life. "That's too much." I said as I quickly put the piece of paper back on the desk.
"I thought you might say that. I did mention to Mr. Heyman when we spoke that you probably wouldn't accept that much so we came to a smaller amount that we thought you would accept." She explained with a kind smile. She then leans over and slides another small piece of paper across the desk. I pick it up and my eyes widen, that is still a ridiculously huge amount of money and still more money than I make in a year as a nanny.
"Will he go lower? I know that's a stupid question but all I want is money to pay the medical bills, my legal fees and to cover the money that I missed from not working this past week." I tell her as I start to get nervous. I don't know if I'm being silly for asking for less money or if suing him was a stupid idea.
"Rubie, I know this is all new to you but I really think you should take this money. You're young and I'm sure you've never had that amount of money at one time. But this money could set you up for life. Fifty thousand dollars is most people's yearly salary. That's a deposit on a house, a brand new car. A fantastic holiday that you deserve after being treated so poorly by Brock. I know I can't tell you what to do but I think the best thing for you to do is accept the money." She says softly.
"Can I think about it?" I ask her.
"Of course you can. Take your time, I'll let Brock know that you've been informed and that'll you're thinking about it." She tells me and I nod. "While you're here I wanted to know if you'd be interested in making a few appearances on camera tonight." She asks and I tilt my head to the side curiously. "Nothing out in the ring or anything like that, we're gonna have Colby walk through the arena in front of a camera like he's here looking for Brock. It would be more affective if you were by his side." She explains and I nod my head slowly.
"I don't see why not." I shrug my shoulders and she grins.
"Fantastic, I'll talk to Colby later. Have a think about what we've just talked about; I'll come see you tonight." She said and I nod my head. I stood up as she did and we shook hands and I walked out of her office and looked around for Colby. He was talking to Randy Orton so I walked over to him and took hold of his hand and he smiled at me.
"How'd it go?" He asked as he looked down at me.
"It was interesting, I've gotta think long and hard about what she said." I tell him and then look up at Randy and smile. "Hi Randy." I say politely.
"How's it going Rubie?" He smiled back at me.
After Colby finished talking to Randy we went to his locker room so he could prepare for his night at work. "So what happened?" Colby asked as he stripped off his shirt.
"He wants to settle out of court." I say slowly.
"That's awesome, saves everyone the mucking around." He says casually. "How much did he give you, if you don't mind me asking?" He says as he rummages through his bag for a fresh shirt.
"Um, that's the thing, I haven't accepted it yet." I don't know why I'm so nervous to tell Colby this. I deserve some sort of compensation for what he did to me. For the first three days after it happened I was in so much pain that I couldn't be on my feet for more than five minutes at a time.
"Is it not enough?" He arches an eyebrow at me; he should know that I'm not a selfish person. "It's too much." He concludes when he looks at my expression carefully. He stops looking for his shirt and sits down next to me and puts his arm around my shoulder. "Well c'mon; you can't keep it a secret." He chuckles and hugs me gently.
"The first offer was $75,000." I tell him and he whistles. "The second was $50,000." I say and he chuckles.
"And you still think that's too much?" He asks.
"Yes. All I want is an apology, money for my medical bills and for the work that I've missed." I tell him honestly.
"Rubie, that's a lot of money." He says gently and starts rubbing my back.
"I know, I just think it's too much."
"I know it might seem like a lot but really it's not. You deserve it after all the pain and suffering he put you through, babe. It could be a deposit on a house; it could pay off your uni loans." I nod my head as he babbles on about all the things that this money could do for me and the more I think about it the more I start to think that I should take the money and get it over and done with. "It's up to you, but just think about how this could help you out." He says softly and kisses my cheek before getting up again to start searching for his shirt.
"I think I'll go and see Steph." I tell him and stand up.
"Don't be too long, I wanna take you out to dinner." He says with a wide grin. "Or if you accept the settlement, you can take me out for dinner." He chuckles and waves as I roll my eyes and leave the room.
Butterflies were winning gold medals in my stomach as I knocked on Steph's office door for the second time tonight. She opened the door and smiled kindly at me. "I didn't think I'd see you so soon." She says as she invites me in.
I sit down and take a deep breath. "I had a chat with Colby and after he listed about ten thousand things that the money could go towards I've decided that I'll take it." I say slowly as Steph laughs.
"He is convincing, isn't he?"
"I think it was the face he made when he stopped to think about other things I could spend the money on." I smiled stupidly; his thinking face is kind of adorable.
"Well I'm glad that he was able to change your mind. Brock didn't think that you would actually say that it was too much money, so I made him write two checks. One for $75,000 and one for $50,000. It's up to you which one you take and I'll shred the other one." She says and pulls out two checks, one with significantly higher numbers than the other.
"I'll take the fifty." I tell her with a laugh. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I went back on my word.
"Hi Mia its Rubie." I say in to the phone. I thought that after all this mucking around and all the work I had missed it was about time that I gave my boss a call to tell her that I was able to come back to work.
"Oh. Hi Rubie." She says in to the phone and I immediately get a bad feeling. "How are you?" She asks.
The only reason I got a bad was because when Mia answered the phone it didn't sound like she knew who was calling. Generally when I called her she knew immediately and greeted me by name. "I'm good thanks; I was just ringing to let you know that I'll be back in Chicago tomorrow to mind Olivia." I tell her as butterflies fly around my stomach.
"Listen Rubie, I'm glad you called because I need to talk to you quickly about our arrangement. I'm really sorry but I don't think it's going to work out. I know obviously what happened wasn't your fault but it seems like you've got your mind on other things. We want what's best for Olivia so we found her a day care centre." I let out a sigh; I knew something like this would happen. Can't win these days, go to WrestleMania with Seth Rollins, get F5'd twice on RAW, settle for fifty thousand dollars, lose job the next day.
"That's fine; if you ever need a babysitter for nights you know I'm available. Thanks Mia." I say quickly before hanging up. I didn't want to argue and definitely didn't want to cry on the phone.
I sat down on the couch in the hotel suite that Colby and I were staying at and let out a breath I hadn't realised I was holding. I wiped the tears from eyes quickly and looked up when Colby walked out of the bathroom. "What's wrong?" He frowns.
"I just lost my job." I sniff.
"Aw babe." He frowns again and sits next to me on the couch and hugs me while I cry in to his shoulder. "What did she say?" He asks.
"They want the best for Olivia, and apparently I'm not it." I mutter stupidly. "I've got my mind on other things." I repeat what Mia said. I'm not angry at her, I'm angry that I let the other things in my life effect my job.
"You can be my babysitter if you want." He grins stupidly at me and leans back to wipe the tears from my cheeks.
"You don't have kids, Colby." I giggled.
"Um excuse me, Kevin can't look after himself." He scoffs dramatically and I roll my eyes.
"Kevin is only a baby because you baby him." I laugh.
"Think about this a different way, maybe you could transfer your uni courses to Iowa and move in with me." He says with a bright smile. I look at him curiously for a moment before he interrupts my thoughts. "I'm not kidding Rubie." He adds.
"Colby…" There are a few alarms going off right now and the first one is we've only known each other for a month! Second, we've been sleeping in the same bed together for a while now but we're not even together. BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY: WE'VE KNOWN EACH OTHER FOR A MONTH!
"Look at me Rubie," He whispers in to my ear and I look up at him. "I have never felt about anyone the way I feel about you. I want to live with you, I want to hug you, and I want to be with you. I don't know what this is," He says as he points to us. "But I don't want that anymore. I don't care that we've only known each other for a few weeks. I want you to be my girlfriend and I want you to move in with me. I want you to be mine Rubie." He says with a serious tone as he lets go of me and takes my hands and looks me straight in the eye.
I don't even think about it or consider any of the repercussions of my actions and I say: "Ok." I nod my head a stupidly amount of times and swipe at the tears that are rolling down my cheeks and attack Colby with kisses as I strangle him with my arms around his neck.