The first thing Phoebe realized when she started waking up was the fact that her arms were numb. That only really happened if she was sleeping with her arms over her head. The second thing, there were two distinct heavy pressures on her biceps, pinning her to the world's most comfortable mattress, since she had been sleeping in one for the last couple of days.

Lifting her head up, Phoebe blinked and then looked around, trying to figure out why she wasn't sleeping on the bed in Jon's hotel room. That's when the memories of the busy night flooded back to her. Heather allowed her, Colby and Jon to come back to her small apartment so that they didn't have a far journey to their hotels. Not like Phoebe had a place to stay herself since Jon was making her crash with him at his hotel room. The sun was coming through the slightly open drapes of the living room window, which was what had woken Phoebe up in the first place.

Someone turned over on their side and draped an arm over her waist while pushing a scruffy and scratchy face into her neck.

Phoebe's eyes shot open and quickly looked down. Yep, she still had her cloths on. And the arm belonged to a well muscled man that had bushy brown and a section of blond hair.

"Colby," she mumbled.

He didn't respond. It was Jon, who was cuddling up really close to the upper part of her chest. He was close to copping a feel, and he seemed to be smiling.

"Morning, Rapunzel." He grinned at her.

"Get off my boob, Ambrose." She tried to take her arm out from under his large body.

"I'm not on your boob." He responded not even trying to move.

This was not the ideal morning she had anticipated on waking up to. Jon's unruly blond curls and then Colby's shaggy dog face pressed into the side of her neck as he continued to snore. Absently, as Phoebe bent her arm to get the feeling back in her hand she started playing with Colby's hair. She couldn't see what time it was, not that she wanted to know herself since she was stuck on her back with two very big babies cuddling with her.

The one thing that Phoebe was thankful for was that they all managed to fit sideways on the extremely large bed Heather owned. No one wanted to sleep on the pull out sofa and after the night before they all just somehow managed to fit on the bed. Man, woman, man and woman. Heather pinned herself against the headboard with her head pressed into Colby's back. Phoebe was the unfortunate one to have been stuck between Jon and Colby, earning this sort of wake up call.

"This is such a cute picture." She heard Heather say.

"I'd look at you but I have a limited amount of space to move at the moment." Then she smelled something. "Is that coffee?"

"Yeah, you want some?"

"Hell yeah!"

Using all the strength that she could muster, Phoebe pulled her arms free, resulting in Colby hitting his head on the bar that was at the head of the pull out. Jon didn't have a chance to catch the long haired blond as she rolled over him and onto the floor, padding over towards the small kitchen. The wonders of owning a studio apartment.

"I love you right now." Phoebe said heading into the kitchen nook.

"You like coffee?"

"I haven't had it in a few days. I was addicted to it before I moved down here." Phoebe said.

"How long can you go without coffee?" Jon asked sitting on the edge of the pull out.

Phoebe shrugged as she grabbed one of the clean mugs next to the sink. She liked Heather's studio apartment. It was small, a lot of white with a hodgpodge of different types of furniture. That would be her if she were to find an apartment.

"I try to get one in every morning so I can wake my butt up." Phoebe mumbled mostly to herself as she focused on mixing the creamer that was in the fridge and the sugar.

"Have you found a place yet?" Heather asked.

It took Phoebe a second to realize what Heather was asking. She had vaguely mentioned that she was looking for a new place but had not really gone into details as to what really was going on. Being homeless was a stain that Phoebe had to put behind her, and fast.

"No, not yet. There isn't much in the way of affordable places and with this being a temp job I don't think I have enough money saved up for the rent coming up."

Oh the sweet savory coffee. It soothed her throat as it trickled down to her stomach, making a warm feeling spread through her belly. How long had it been since she had given up on drinking coffee? Days? Jon didn't drink coffee, or he didn't drink it in front of her. Since spending most of her time with him, anyway, that was how long she had gone without coffee. At first it was just to save money while sleeping in a crowded shelter, Phoebe gave up the perks of having a good job and her nice small studio apartment in New York just to start a new life.

"We could help with that?" Colby spoke up, laying on his back with his arm draped over his face.

"I am not a charity case." Phoebe said before she took another well needed gulp of coffee, cradling it in between her fingers, gingerly turning it so that she could grasp the handle on the mug.

"We're not saying you are. But friends don't let friends sleep under the interstate." Jon stood up, stretching.

Him and Colby both had no shirts on. As alluring as that was, as great looking as the both of them were, Phoebe refused to acknowledge that she had been touching their skin through the night without realizing it. First Jon kissing her and then waking up to two men cuddling with her, this would probably have been a dream come true for the WWE fans that followed Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose but it made Phoebe feel strange.

It wasn't a bad feeling, just something strange.

She enjoyed it.

"Look, it's not your problem." Phoebe said, going back to the conversation that she and the other three of them were having. "I can take care of myself, I have since I could remember."

"You don't need to do it alone." Heather looked at her friend.

"I have done it alone since I was younger. Drunk parents, a brother that was a drug addict. It's funny, I was ten when I learned that alcoholism was hereditary. And you know what, I wanted to become a bartender. They always told me that I would never amount to much because we were poor and had nothing to our name. We would be project people for the rest of our lives." While she spoke about that, Phoebe stared into her coffee as if watching the memories float on by in the dark brown depths of the beverage. "I never once drank. I refused to drink while I trained to be a bartender."

"Why would you want to be a bartender?" Jon asked approaching her.

"Because then I could control the alcohol, I can decide when someone has had too much and send them home safe and sound. I never let the alcohol control me."

Phoebe looked at Jon as he stood in front of her, looking at her with an impassive expression on his face. He reached over and pushed the large section of blond hair behind her shoulder, making sure that her face was visible.

"I can only agree with that. You know I grew up in the slums of Cincinnati, the projects of East End. I was told that I wouldn't be anything, but my goal was to become a wrestler. As bloody as I got at times, I didn't care. I wanted nothing more than to be in that ring and kick ass."

The commonality between Jon and Phoebe was there, it was something that Phoebe liked to hear. Most of the people she came in contact with, people like the Anoa'i family were rich and were successful and it always made her feel like she was just some low life with nothing to live for, at least that was her past thinking. But here was a successful man, though an entertainer, who had come from similar childhood experiences like her.

Maybe it would be worth their time if they knew.

"What is it with that look?" Colby asked, standing up. "You look ashamed of something."

So Phoebe took a deep breath and opened her mouth and heart to the two that didn't know. "I've been living in a homeless shelter for the last month while I've tried looking for a job." She closed her eyes, waiting for the three of them to laugh at her. "I put my home address as the address of the shelter just so that it looks like I have a home."

"Why didn't you tell Matt any of this?" Heather reached out and touched Phoebe's shoulder lightly.

"I did tell someone."

"Who?" Heather and Colby asked.

"Me," came the simply response from Jon as he continued looking at her.

"I didn't tell Matt because I didn't want it interfering with me getting a job. I mean it already looked like everyone else wanted the more Islander feel to it, keeping it all in the family sort of. What's one more piece of ammo to fire at me. I'm homeless, that's why I'm always early because the shelter I stay at is only six blocks from work? Yeah, like that's going to go over well for me."

In response to that, Jon leaned his head down so that his nose was near hers but that was as close as he dared to get to her, in case she punched him again.

"Matt is a good guy. He's seen the potential in you, Phoebe. You have nothing to worry about. Matt's the good guy, the rest of them are bitches that need to have their heads reexamined. Well Kathy I can see, but maybe Candace and Katrina have changed, what little I have seen. I think you and Heather were the first that tried not to let their boobs do the talking."

Jon knew what to say and do to make Phoebe laugh. Just to get out of the funk she was in.

For that she was grateful for him to be there.

Malia went to St. Agnes Elementary school, which had been his own elementary school when he was her age. Rochelle held his hand as they walked through the front doors. The only people there were others parents coming to talk to their children's teachers about grades and other stuff. Unlike a lot of the other Catholic schools in the area, this place didn't have a uniform that the children were supposed to wear, so today Malia was walking ahead of them dressed in what would be called her Beauty and the Beast dress. It was yellow, her hair was up in a twisted bun that Rochelle managed to do and she had black flats on that squeaked when she skipped down the hall.

"Don't go too fast, Malia." Rochelle reminded the young girl.

The only reply she got was a giggle.

"She's fine." Joe said, tugging Rochelle closer to his side as a little boy came running by. "She's just happy that today is no school."

"I can only guess what she wants to do with the rest of the day and then tomorrow."

Joe was lucky that Malia had the next two days off because of the parent teacher conferences. And since he had been given time off for this week, he wanted to spend as much time as he could with Rochelle and Malia, mostly Malia because she hadn't really understood why her Daddy was never home like normal daddies were.

Malia stopped outside the door to her classroom. "Uncle Matt says that Rapunzel is helping out at Island Boi later. Is that true?"

"Uh, just for a little while longer, sweetie." Joe answered.

"Can I go see her? She's nice." Malia said as she waited for her parents to catch up.

"I don't think she's working today, sweetie. She had to help when my coworkers came by for dinner. It was really busy there last night. She and Strawberry Shortcake were really busy."

"Who? Oh, you mean Heather Blaise, that girl you went to school with." Rochelle nodded. "I don't want to start anything but I need to talk to you about something, when you have time."

That could mean many different things at the moment. But he had an idea it had to do with his late night excursion to Island Boi. Joe decided to ignore it because they needed to talk to his daughter's teacher about why she was not doing well in math.

Malia had always had an active imagination. But when it came to stuff like math, adding and subtracting, she never seemed interested in it. Not like the fact she had this strange interest in all things Disney Princess related. Most girls did, most pretended to be a princess or a fairy or something like that and Malia was no different. But when it came to math, or learning, she just didn't want to learn.

That's what the meeting turned out to be for Joe and Rochelle. They already knew that there was some stuff going on that needed to be looked into, like a tutor but they didn't know where to start.

"We just, we're not sure." Rochelle said. "We know she's smart, she's not stupid but she's just, it's hard to deal with it on my own."

That statement made Joe look at her.

"I'm not saying that it's either of your faults," Mrs. Gardner said looking at both adults. "Children learn differently. Some kids, it takes longer for them to grasp anything. I've seen it countless times before, though that was with reading and the child has something like dyslexia but Malia knows how to read. Maybe getting a babysitter slash tutor will work for you."

"A babysitter. We have my nephew who watches her…"

"Someone who can watch her and teach her at the same time. It will give you both time to be together, alone. I can recommend a babysitter website if you wish." Mrs. Gardner suggested.

Joe was about ready to agree when Rochelle shook her head. "No, that's okay. We are not letting a stranger watch our daughter."

"Rochelle." Joe mumbled looking at her. "This may work out the best for Malia."

"I don't want some stranger coming to the house, Joe. I'm just not that comfortable with the idea."

"There will be background checks, I'm sure. But if this is good for Malia then why shouldn't we do it. It's a more one on one setting, she's not contending with an entire classroom for help." Joe tried to keep his voice calm while trying not to blow up at the same time.

The last thing he wanted was to have a fight with his wife in front of Malia and her teacher.

"How about you go home and talk about it." Mrs. Gardner suggested. "That way you can take your time and figure out what is best for your daughter, together."

"Fine." Rochelle said, grabbing her purse.

Joe stood up and shook the teacher's hand. "Thank you for letting us know."

"Usually I'm griping about kids not playing well with others, but Malia is a great little girl."

Malia left with her parents, Rochelle pissed off at Joe that she refused to even acknowledge that he was there. Joe walked with his hands shoved into his pockets.

"Daddy, can we go see Uncle Matt at Island Boi?" Malia stopped her skipping as she waited for her father to catch up with her.

"I don't have a problem with that." He said, knowing that Rochelle had to go back to work anyway. "We'll drop mommy off at work and then go over there and see what's going on."

"Okay. I hope Rapunzel and Strawberry Shortcake are there." She smiled before skipping off again.

For his sake, he hoped Rapunzel wasn't.

Okay I think I got this one okay, for the most part. Hope you guys enjoyed it and I'll be back in a day or two to get the next chapter out for you.