Chapter 10
Disclaimer: I don't own anyone from the WWE.

Author's Notes: Warning! If ever you feel like you're missing something during this chapter, you probably are. Just go along with it, and eventually, everything will be explained. Shout out to Sonib89, Felonxoxo, Animal-Viper-Cena Fan, xXParieceXx, bathpinkdog, Cena's baby doll, and Lauren - thank you all for your reviews. Enjoy everyone!

"Ted, you need to calm down," Roxanne advised right as she watched him tumble to the floor. He had gotten into a hysterical fit, mumbling words no one could make out. It was obvious he'd exceeded his alcohol limit and that only meant trouble. Roxanne was trying to pull him back up but instead, found herself crashing to the ground with him. He was one of those sloppy drunks who would laugh in bursts for no apparent reason. It was both entertaining and a complete pain in the ass.

"Keep me and the floor company, Roxanne."

"I will, if you promise me, no more drinks for tonight. Alright?"

"Aight!" Ted made a fist and threw it up in the air. He did this once, twice, which was already enough, then one more time. Right as he was going for the fourth, Roxanne reached up and grabbed his hand. "Oh, so you wanna hold my hand now, huh?"

"No, Ted. You almost hit someone."

"Hey, good job, Ted!" he congratulated himself before falling into another fit of laughter.

"Man, get your ass up," Randy ordered. He pulled the other man from the floor and helped him to a seat, before lending a hand to Roxanne. "Don't even try taking care of him by yourself."

She got to her feet and shrugged. "I can handle him."

"Trust me, you wouldn't wanna test that. He's known for hooking up with a bunch of girls, so please, don't be a part of that list. Since he's drunk, he may just break you."

Laughing, Roxanne shook her head. "Randy, that's ridiculous. First of all, I'm not that type of girl. And second of all, even if I was, I can still handle him."

"You've been warned."

"You know Randy, ever since you got married, you've been different."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, but it's a good kind of different. Improvement, I'd say."

"Yeah, well, that's what marriage does to you," Randy smiled. "I um- I just wish John could learn to say the same."

Right as he finished talking, both their eyes suddenly fell to the object of topic. John had just arrived with his wife and was now making his way through the crowds. Not knowing what to say, Roxanne just shot Randy a smile then looked at John again. He had already fixed his eyes on her by the time he got in talking distance.

"Hey Randy. Hey Roxanne," John greeted.

"Hey," the two answered in unison.

Liz, on the other hand, crossed her arms and looked around as awkward stares were passed between everyone else.

"Roxanne! You promised you'd keep me company tonight. Come here," Ted commanded. He draped his arm over her neck before using this hold to pull her towards him.

"Alright, well, I'ma go hang out with this drunk. Have a good night you guys."

"Yes but you be damn careful," Randy said firmly, watching as the two walked off.

"I will!" she replied, not bothering to look back.

"Why, is she going to his hotel room?" John asked.

"I don't know," Randy shrugged.

John looked at the two as they got further and further away. He would've kept staring, until they disappeared from view completely, but his wife spoke up, "I want a drink, John."

He nodded before going back to this usual, dreadful routine.

The next few minutes were fine but after the twentieth, John was beginning to question why they were there in the first place. He saw no use - they ostracized themselves from the whole scene anyway. All he could do was look around and see if he'd get a glance at how Roxanne was doing. That didn't help since she was no where to be found. The questions that followed were even worse. It induced his imagination to reach lengths he wish it never did; they were horrific and it made him worry. If Roxanne wasn't here, what could she be possibly be doing? She'd complained about being stuck with Ted a few nights ago and this seemed to be a repeat. Was she doing okay? Did she need his rescue but couldn't find a way to ask? John couldn't stop circulating these questions in his head but as the minutes passed, he grew more distracted. His wife had misjudged her alcohol limit and was quickly beginning to look like a female version of Ted - sloppy and drunk.

"Mumba ramba John Cena! My one and only husband that you can't see."

John couldn't help but chuckle. Had he really not paid enough attention that she ended up getting this drunk? It wasn't a surprise, but it was sure an amusement. Seeing his wife in a whole different state of mind was refreshing. Enjoyable, actually. Something he hadn't been able to say, about her, in the last few months

"Let's go join everyone!" she grabbed his hand and made her way towards the roster. They were met with wondering eyes. Surprised would've been an understatement.

"She's um- she's a little drunk," John explained, to those close enough to him.

"So far, I cant say that could be worse than her being sober. She actually seems relaxed," someone commented.

John laughed, obviously not offended. In fact, he actually agreed. His wife did seem more laid back and not retentive anal. Maybe this night wasn't going to be so bad after all. This thought was confirmed, the very next minute, when Roxanne and Ted magically appeared nearby. John couldn't help but stare at them.

Ted was laughing and putting an awful lot of weight on Roxanne, but like always, she looked relaxed. She possessed such an immaculate sense of serenity and he bet she didn't even know she did. She was just…her and she did it effortlessly.

John then took a quick glace at his wife. She seemed to be busy making friends with some people he couldn't recognize but that didn't bother him. In fact, he didn't really care. He got up from the booth and walked over to Roxanne. "Hey, you."

She grabbed Ted's arm, that was draped over her shoulders, and slickly replaced it with John's. She hugged his torso tightly, feeling him do the same.

"How are you?" he asked.

She smiled, "I'm better now."

John furrowed instantly. "Was it going bad?"

"No, not at all," she shook her head. "I'm just saying, it's better now."

"Oh, because I'm with you?"

She crinkled her nose before she shook her head again. "You're giving yourself a little too much credit there, John."

Laughing, John retightened his grip on her, then allowed his lips to kiss her temple. She pulled away to a slight and asked, "where's Liz?"

"She's over there somewhere," John replied, slightly tilting his head to the right. He didn't even bother looking to that direction for confirmation but it didn't look like he cared. Roxanne, on the other hand, stole a quick glance.

"She's drunk, isn't she?" Roxanne asked. Suddenly, this whole thing started to make sense. "Ah, no wonder you're here. You should go take care of her though."

"She's doing fine."

"Yeah but she would do even better if you were with her."

"You should know."

She glared at him before allowing her hand to smack his chest. "Go back to your wife, John. You need to watch out for her."

"Alright, alright," John gave in. "You be careful tonight, though. I'll text you before I go to sleep."

"I might be busy," she smiled.

Alarmed, John raised his eyebrows. "Doing what?"

"Sleeping."

"Better be by yourself."

Roxanne shrugged.

"I'm serious, Rox. I don't want anything to happen to you. Or for you to catch anything."

"I can take care of myself, John."

"I know but-"

"And I do too. I know what you want me to know. Don't worry about me, just focus on Liz right now. Aight? Aight."

Slowly succumbing to acceptance, John wrapped both arms around her one more time. Right when they fully closed the space between them, John closed his eyes, feeling the world at a stop. The music was loud, voices percolated from everywhere, but nothing, absolutely nothing stopped him from feeling like they were the only people in the room.

"I'll still text you before I sleep," he said.

Nodding, Roxanne let go and watched as he slowly made his way back to his wife.

"You seem different."

"Do I really?" Roxanne asked monotonously, not bothering to divert from the window she's been looking through, for the past fifteen minutes. She wasn't sure who was talking and she cared even less. She'd been sitting in the hotel café, minding her own business, and only wished for the same courtesy in return. Apparently, that wasn't going to happen.

"Yeah, you do."

"How could you classify me as being different? You don't even know me."

"I do actually. I know that when your smile is fake, one side is higher than the other. I also know it takes a whole lot for you to leave something behind. Even if it's worth is shitless."

Rather than being impressed with their piece of knowledge, Roxanne turned to look at the speaker with a disturbed face. "You got all that from staring at me?"

Ted laughed. "We've been friends for a while now, I've been knowing."

"Okay, so should I congratulate you now?"

"Whoa, whoa. You're a spitfire today. Which proves my point exactly. What's going on, Roxanne? Are you mad at me for being a drunk two nights ago? Did you deal with a narcissistic diva this morning?"

She shook her head and didn't say a word. Instead, she returned her eyes to the window.

"Oh come on now. Don't be mad at me, I didn't do anything. Is looking through the window really that much better than talking to me?"

"Actually-"

"You know what, don't even answer that. I'd rather not get my feelings hurt," he half-joked. "I just wanted to see if you were okay because, like I said, you seem different. If you change your mind and you decide you wanna talk, just call me. Alright?"

Roxanne didn't say anything which left Ted with no choice but to finally walk away. Just as he was about to pass ear-shot, she spoke up. "Ted, say you have this relationship with someone."

Ted returned to the empty space beside her and nodded, curious to what else she had to say.

"It's forbidden but it makes living through hell feel perfect. Everything can go wrong but as long as you're secured in that relationship, you feel okay. Then, all of a sudden, that same relationship starts to crumble because something better comes along, or say, something better came back. What do you think about that relationship?"

"Something better came back? Well, I'd say there was no true relationship to begin with then."

"Why not?"

"Because it seems like that relationship was dependent on that other person, the outsider, who came back. Which makes no sense at all because isn't a true relationship based solely on the two people involved? If it's not, then, I'd think that relationship was just a placeholder, a rebound, a filler-in, if you may."

"Hm."

"Why, does this pertain to you in any way?"

"Nope," she half-lied. "You can't question things, such as a relationship, that was never there in the first place, right?"

"Actually you can. Because you and me don't necessarily have a relationship but I can ask you for one."

Roxanne gave him a second to take it back, but when she found out he was actually serious, she fell into a fit of laughter.

"What? Is it really that funny?"

"Ted, the last thing I wanna do is lead you on. So I'll be straight up right now, I don't wanna be anything more than a friend to you."

"Alright, well, just give me tonight."

"You're not gonna change my mind."

"And I wont even try to. Just spend the night with me, no strings attached, we'll go back to being just friends tomorrow morning. Come on. Just ditch the window right now and spend some time with me. That's all I ask. I promise I'll take good care of you."

Roxanne fidgeted with her fingers as the idea of spending time with this man started to sink in. It didn't seem so bad. She opened her mouth to speak then stopped vehemently when she caught John's eyes. He had walked into the café with his wife, looking secured as ever in an affectionate embrace. He looked at Roxanne and Ted for a good second before he returned his attention back to Liz. Roxanne got that same cold shoulder, almost as if she a plague, from him like she's been for the past two days.

"So?" Ted, oblivious to John, stepped closer, occupying all of Roxanne's peripheral view.

"Fine, I'll give you tonight."

"Ted, I already told you, I'm too sore to-" Roxanne began to say.

It was eight o'clock in the morning and she'd already opened her door a good three times. The first one, which was just fifteen minutes ago, was to let Ted out. The next two were to simply reject his nagging offer to work-out with him. She mistook this fourth time for being the same as the last two. She was so wrong that she could've sworn her heart stopped beating.

"John I-um, I thought you were…" her words trailed off on him for the first time and he didn't make the experience feel welcomed. He looked at her with a blank face.

"Uh… do you… wanna come in?" she asked, filling in the eerie silence.

"Not if you're busy," John shrugged. If Roxanne thought he'd been cold for the past couple of days then this was safe to call frozen. He seemed so disconnected from her, almost careless. But then again, if he didn't care, he wouldn't have shown up at her room in the first place.

"I'm not," she said quickly, hoping to regain the John she knew. "Come in."

He did so, slowly, looking around. Right as his eyes met the rest of the room, Roxanne mentally slapped herself. She couldn't deny the trouble on his face when he looked at the pieces of clothing thrown in different parts of the room, with the comforter barely draped over the bed. It was a mess and only a fool would think nothing happened in there last night.

"Wow," John said, before finally looking at Roxanne.

Her face was pain stricken but he was too bothered with his own emotions to notice.

"I um-"

"No need to explain yourself, Rox."

"Well, why-" she began to speak but couldn't find the strength to continue. For the first time, she felt broken even while standing in front of John. That never happened. He always made her feel whole, feel complete. But not now, not this time.

"What?" John asked, his eyes piercing right through her, almost as if it were helping her feel even smaller.

"Why have you been acting so different lately?"

"Different? I haven't talked to you for two days, how could you possibly come up with the conclusion that I'm different? I mean, unless that's what you're talking about. That us not talking for two days makes me different?"

Roxanne didn't say anything. Her smart remarks were gone, her humor was no where present. She looked scared, almost.

John had no trouble continuing the talk. "Out of all people, I thought you'd understand."

"John I-I was just worried. You haven't been returning my text messages and I just wanted to know how you were doing."

"You've been seeing me, though right?"

"Yeah, but from afar. You never even smiled back, or said hello. The times we were only a few feet apart, you made it feel like a whole country was between us."

"I've been with Liz, Roxanne. You know the situation. But you saw me smiling right? Wasn't that what you needed to see?"

"Yeah," Roxanne mumbled, feeling herself continuing to shrink. Tears were beginning to burn through her eyes but luckily, her blinks stopped them from falling.

"Look," John began, walking towards her. His voice was a lot softer now. "I do understand why you'd say I'm different. I am different but it's not in the same way you think. I can't explain it to you right now."

She nodded.

"I just came by to check up on you before I went to a signing. We'll just talk another time, alright?"

She nodded again.

John backed up, returning his eyes to the bed, before he turned his back on her. He walked away and almost at an instant, Roxanne heard the door open then shut. He hadn't even bothered giving her a hug.

Author's Note: Confused? Hate me? No worries, the next chapter, I will come baring with explanations! I'll give what I left out. What do you guys think though?

January 29, 2011 - Happy birthday momma!