Chapter 11
The Reveal
Monday rolled around and Stu had not seen Veronika since the meeting in McMahon's office; he suspected she hadn't left her hotel room. If she had she had done it discretely. He packed his bags to head to the arena. He slung the bag over his shoulder and left the room. He had all of his bags packed in the SUV. Veronika was traveling with him to the next city after the show.
Maybe they could work it out than.
Stu walked over to Ronnie's door and knocked.
She opened the door seconds later with her duffel bag in hand. "Are you ready Stu?"
"Yes, is all your stuff in the car so we can leave right after the show?"
"Yes."
He nodded and walked with her all the way to the SUV. They rode in silence to the arena, than walked, separately, to the locker-rooms. Once inside the men's locker room he groaned in frustration and dropped his bag on the bench. '"This is going to be a long night' he thought.
Ronnie changed for her scene with Wade and John in the locker-room. She had spent the whole weekend avoiding Stu. She had vented a lot of frustration and anxiety the last they had talked and she had directed it all at him. She was sure he would be upset with her. She was still a little upset with him for interrogating her like that; her life was none of his business, but soon he would get the answers he wanted.
'And who knows what will happen than' she thought.
She sighed and left for the guys locker-room. She only had a few minutes before her skit with Stu. She barged in like always to find Stu and John waiting for her.
"Hey Ronnie." John smiled.
She had become close to John, as well as Paul, while working closely with the Nexus. John almost treated her like a kid sister, and she liked it, because quite frankly she was sure he would be the coolest big brother.
"Hey John, hey Stu."
"Hello." Stu replied. John nodded and sat on the bench as the cameraman entered the room. Ronnie stood by Stu—he looked down at Ronnie, which wasn't hard with his six and almost a half foot frame compared to hers at five-five.
"Veronika" Wade said, grabbing his 'wife's' shoulder—she tried not to react to his touch.
"Yes Wade?" She said quietly.
"I have a match tonight with Randy Orton."
"Yes Wade."
He smirked. "You will make sure I win tonight, won't you Veronika?"
"Of course." She replied quietly.
Wade smirked "Good." He turned and walked past the camera man and left the locker room.
"Veronika." John looked over at her and the cameraman changed angles as she sat beside him.
"What John?"
"You know you don't have to listen to him right, you don't have to help him."
"John, he's my husband, I have to help him."
"No, c'mon Ronnie, he's tearing apart this company, you can see that!"
"John, I made a promise to stand by him, for better and for worse."
"Well, if this isn't his worst—"
"Stop it John, you are part of this now—"She glanced toward the doorway, pretending to be concerned. "If Wade knew you were saying this—"
"What would he do Ronnie, really? What would he do?" John acted frustrated, "You don't have to help him, you can still get out of this."
"You know what John, I'll think about it okay?"
John smiled slightly. "Good-"
Veronika got up and left and the cameraman, she was sure left shortly after, than she returned to the locker room.
John smiled at her "You're a natural Ronnie Ramsey; you are going to fit in just fine here."
"Thanks John, I think that went smoothly," She glanced down the hallway.
"He's probably getting water."
"What?" She pretended to act like she had no clue what he was talking about.
"Stu, he's probably getting water."
"I wasn't looking for Stu" She lied.
"C'mon girl, everyone knows you have the hotts for him."
She could feel herself blush. "John knock it off your not funny."
He chuckled. "Don't worry, Stu hasn't caught on yet—he's not that observant."
Veronika did feel relieved, at least, if she couldn't stop her feelings, she could hope he had none for her.
"Whatever John, get ready for our skit in the ring, we'll be on soon." She turned and walked out. How the hell had John figured out she had feelings for Stuart Bennett?
Wade, walked down the ramp, behind Justin and Heath, his arm around Veronika's shoulders lightly. The others were following, with John, slowly, walking in back. They all entered the ring and Justin and Heath emptied the ring of the remaining wrestlers left over from the eight-man tag team match that had just ended. Veronika stood by Wade; her arms crossed and looked down. Veronika exited the ring with John, and the other members of the Nexus once Randy had reached the ring.
The match seemed to go by quickly for Wade, Randy was overpowering him. Gabriel and Slater quickly distracted the referee, while Veronika, climbed into the ring and 'hit' Orton in the head with her cast. Orton fell and she rolled out of the ring. Wade took the cover and the win.
Wade watched as the others climbed into the ring. The Referee held his hand up while Gabriel and Slater headed for Orton. Wade stopped them and turned to Cena. He smirked again and pointed to Orton "Get him out of the ring Cena."
Cena looked at him, angrily but shoved Orton out of the ring with his foot.
Wade nodded and motioned for a crew member to get him a microphone. He reached out and grabbed in than turned to Cena. "John you appear to be having trouble ADJUSTING to the Nexus. You see, John, in this group, we are loyal and you seem to have a problem comprehending that."
John glared at Wade and leaned against the ring post.
"John, earlier tonight you tried, to sway the loyalty of one of the members of this group." Wade nodded to the screen above the entrance to the stage area. They played the clip from earlier. Wade watched John and Veronika skit for the first time, it was impressive. When it was over he turned back to Cena. "Cena, you can see, my wife is very loyal to me. She will not be leaving, will you Veronika."
He put the microphone in front of Veronika and she said "No, I'm not going anywhere Wade."
Wade looked back at Cena and smirked. "See, Cena, if you want more proof, watch this."
This is where the story line became confusing for Stu; he watched the video of the fight between Veronika and the fan, for the first time, just like everyone else in the stadium. He felt Veronika take a small step away from him. He watched in disbelief of the verbal confrontation between Veronika and the man from the signing, than he grabbed her arm, she punched him, and all hell broke loose.
She had gotten into a fight because of him, the man had insulted Veronika over and over, but it wasn't until he said something about how his character treated his wife that Veronika reacted. Had she done it because she felt it made herself look bad, or because it made him look bad, or both.
He waited a moment to gather himself, than turned back to Cena. "See, Cena, my wife is willing to fight for my honor, so, I'm sure you are not surprised she has no problem helping the Nexus." With that he dropped the microphone. He turned to leave with Veronika, but, she wasn't there. He looked and she was half way up the ramp.
She had gone off script. He quickly got out of the ring and acted like nothing was wrong. The rest of the Nexus, except John followed.
Once they were backstage he followed Veronika, the rest returned to the locker room.
Veronika had to get out of there. She had no clue how Stu would react. Once the skit had ended she quickly left the ring to avoid having to talk to him. She pushed herself through a back exit door and exited the arena. She leaned against the brick wall and took a deep breath. She had no choice; she would have to confront him soon. She had to ride in an SUV with him for five and a half hours soon. What would she say though? She just had to figure out what she would say that she would be alright.
The door she came out of opened and Stu came out. He was still in his wrestling gear.
"You're going to freeze to death Stu." She said not looking at him. It really wasn't that cold, but he wasn't exactly dressed either.
"I'm fine Ronnie; I think we need to talk."
"I think we are fine." She replied.
"That's why you took off mid-skit."
"End-skit, technically, I just walk faster than you."
"Striking, seeing you have such short legs."
She gave him a dirty look "Did you come out here to talk or insult me Su?"
"I wasn't trying to insult you, it was an observation, I didn't say there was anything wrong with your legs, quite the contrary—"
"What do you want Bennett or I'm going back inside" She looked at him, exasperated.
"Thank you."
"For what?"
"You know what Veronika." He stood beside her. "That bloke insulted you over and over and you did nothing, but than when he said that I hurt you, You did something, I appreciate, even if it had nothing to do with me, that you stopped him from-"
"It didn't have anything to do with me—"
Did she just say that? Was she completely losing her mind?
"What?" he looked at her, confused.
She shook her head and turned to walk away but he grabbed her upper-arm gently and pulled her back.
"Ronnie, are you saying you only did that because of what he said about me?"
Veronika couldn't bring herself to respond. She was embarrassed and confused. She wasn't even sure about what she was doing anymore. Nothing was making sense.
"Ronnie? Please answer me." He looked at her.
"Yes, I think, even if your character is an egotistical asshole that you are a half-way decent guy and idiots like him who can't separate entertainment from reality shouldn't be able to run their mouths off about you, especially something so demeaning."
He let go of her arm, he looked shocked.
She shouldn't have said anything. She went to walk away again but he grabbed her again, around the waist and pulled her back, and kissed her.
Stu wasn't sure what came over him, but he had kissed Veronika, and even though he loved her, which, he knew he loved her. He wasn't sure that she felt the same. It was obvious she cared about him, but she had never shown any romantic interest in him. Had he just made a huge mistake? He hoped not, but what if she didn't feel the same about him? Would this affect their working relationship? He took a step back from Veronika and looked at her. She didn't move; she looked completely surprised. He was expecting to get slapped in the face, but instead she turned and ran.
She was shocked, she wasn't expecting that as a response, and she didn't know what to think. She didn't like that she enjoyed it and she certainly didn't like that she wanted him to do it again. She didn't look back, she had been a complete coward to run from him, but she hadn't been thinking. She jumped into the first SUV leaving the parking lot.
It turned out to be the second to last person she wanted to see right now. The first of course was Stu, she had just made a complete ass out of herself, and would be stuck having to explain herself in a few hours when they had to work together on the tapings for Smackdown.
The second was John Cena.
He looked at her surprised, "Hey Ronnie, I thought you were riding with Stu?"
She quickly glanced out the Window, the door to the arena she and Stu had come out of was closing shut after Stu had re-entered the arena. "Something came up John, can I ride with you?"
"Of course Ramsey, some company will be nice." He pulled out of the parking lot and headed for the highway. "Why were you running?"
"I was hoping to find someone to ride with as quickly as possible." That wasn't a lie.
He glanced at her and turned onto the on-ramp. "Are you and lover-boy fighting Ramsey?"
She glared at him. "No, don't call him that, we're co-workers."
"Okay, what happened Ramsey, and don't skip the details."
She rolled her eyes. "Nothing John, nothing happened okay?"
"That is bullshit Veronika Ramsey, and I'm not falling for it, did he say something to you?"
"No, well yes, but that's not the problem."
"So there is a problem—what is it?"
He was tricking her. She sighed. "It's none of your business John."
He smirked. "You need to talk to someone; you're all, stressed out about something, so just spill it."
She sighed and rolled her eyes but, some what reluctantly, recapped the last twenty minutes for John.
He laughed.
"What the hell are you laughing about John?"
"You ran from him Ramsey, that's pretty sad."
She glared at him. "Shut it John, you bugged me and bugged me and I told you and now you make fun of me, are you supposed to give me some advice or something, not harass me."
John rolled his eyes. "Fine, you want advice, here is my advice to you Miss Ramsey, lighten up."
"What"
"You're too tightly wound. You're going to go crazy, let go, you can't control everything and you definitely can't control who you fall in love with."
"There is not such thing."
He rolled his eyes. "Yes there is, and you are in love, its all over your face Veronica."
"Don't be ridiculous John."
"Fine, don't believe me, but either way, have some fun, you aren't letting yourself do anything but work—"
"That's not true—"
"C'mon, did you even leave your hotel after you left McMahon's?"
"No, I was reading the—"
"I read mine and I still got out." He glanced at her. "Put your seatbelt on"
She growled slightly in frustration and put her seatbelt on. "there happy?"
"Yes, now I know you won't go through my damn windshield."
She rolled her eyes. "I thought you would be helpful, not feed me some of that bullshit about love."
"Maybe you are the one not helping yourself."
"That makes no sense John, don't try to be philosophical"
He shook his head, "I'm just saying, all work know play—"
"Made Jack a dull boy I know, but I'm not giving up my dreams for some guy—"
"One, no one said anything about giving anything up, two, I can tell, to you Stu is much, much more than just some guy."
