Meant to Be: Chapter Eleven
… I'm not together, but I'm getting there.

(12/09/05) Raw – Little Rock, Arkansas

Ella had arrived at the arena well before she was needed and even before many of the crew had turned up determined that she was going to catch up on the paperwork the heads at Stamford needed from her so urgently that they couldn't wait until the deadline in two weeks time. The hotel was offering far too many distractions and the only other option was to head to the arena and hope that she could get some work done. Fortunately for Ella it proved to be a good idea and she managed to get a great deal of work done but yet she found herself twiddling her thumbs as her mind went over what Dave had told her the week before.

She convinced herself that John probably did understand that she was busy and it was most likely her mind running out the worst-case scenarios and she allowed herself worry too much over something that most likely was nothing.

Ella's thoughts were sharply interrupted by a knock at her door, and while she shuffled her papers together she was thankful for the distraction.

"Come in." She called out.

"Hey stranger."

"Hi Steph." Ella greeted as Steph stepped through the door.

"They said you were here early. Catching up huh?"

"Yeah, deadlines have been shifted." Ella pointed at the stack of folders on her desk, she watched as Steph absentmindedly flipped through several of them, she nodded in approval as she did.

"So how are things going then?" She asked sitting on the edge of the desk picking up a folder to have a closer look.

Ella watched as Steph read through several of the production releases she'd composed that weekend from her meetings in Stamford.

"They're ok." Ella leant back in her chair, she was debating on asking Steph about her theories on John she went as far as opening her mouth to speak but decided against it and instead looked down at her paperwork.

"You okay Ella?" Steph asked flipping through some of the paperwork on the desk. Ella nodded knowing all too well that Steph wasn't looking at her. "Sorry, I didn't hear you." Steph said putting the papers back down.

Ella forced a grin, "I'm fine."

"You know we're friends as well as colleagues Ella, if you have any problems, you know you can talk to me." Ella nodded again, "My door is always open."

Ella remained silent, she couldn't tell Steph about her current situation with John and ask her opinion on what John may have thought their dinner was really about. It wouldn't go down well with her as Ella knew too well Steph didn't work well with separating personal from work backstage and would almost certainly go and tell John to leave staff alone. Or even worse she would warn Ella about mixing work with personal affairs. Ella knew it would be better to remain silent.

"Do you mind if I borrow these?" Steph asked picking up several of the folders.

"Go ahead. They're mostly minutes from the meetings this week about budgets, the boring crap." Ella pulled herself up so she sat upright.

"I'll see you later Ella." Steph said as she got up to leave still reading through the folders.

"Bye."

Ella watched her walk out the door, once the door clicked shut Ella stood and pulled her notes for the night's show out of her bag and clipped them to her clipboard. She wasn't looking forward to some of that night's promos, they required her out on the ramp, not her favourite place to be. Sighing she swept up all what she needed for the night and left her office. Showtime was in half an hour and she needed to be ready.

Maybe Dave was right; maybe she did worry too much.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ella was finishing directing the crew on the rundown of that night's promos when she spotted John, he walked past her without so much as a nod in her direction, she knew she'd been pretty distant the week before, she'd be miffed if someone had treated her the way she'd treated John the week before, but not enough to completely blank them. Obviously this went deeper than what Ella had assumed it to be. There went her theory that she was worrying about things way too much, John had just confirmed that. But she didn't have time to run around after John she had a promo with Shawn Michaels and Ric Flair out on the entrance ramp.

Coming backstage after being tucked down the side of the entrance ramp away from sight Ella was glad to have the open space of the backstage area to stretch her back and cringed as she heard the bones click. She would be glad if she didn't have to go down there again, but knew she had Lita's and Edge's promo to oversee on the ramp again later that night, Ella had no idea why they'd chosen to film promo's out there or who'd decided it.

She was absentmindedly walking backstage with her clipboard clutched to her chest on her way to her next promo set up when she heard a familiar voice call her from behind.

"Ella!"

She turned to see Trish bouncing over, from what Ella could she, Trish was obviously more than happy to be back.

"Hi Trish."

"Hi Ella, how's things?" Trish pulled Ella into a hug; she was without a doubt glad to be back.

"They're good. How about you? How you doing? You're looking great!"

Trish nodded and grinned from ear to ear, "Thank you. I'm better than ever, can't wait to get back out there."

"I bet you've been climbing the walls."

"Tell me about it."

"Sorry the Summerslam idea didn't pan out."

"It's ok, I wasn't quite ready for it anyway."

"Looking forward to tonight?"

"You bet! I can't wait to get out there and kick some ass!"

Ella laughed as Trish demonstrated this by punching at the air in front of her. They'd both kept in touch after Trish's visit to Raw before Summerslam. Ella had left her cell phone number with Trish if she had any problems and Trish had rung several times to discuss upcoming storylines and had both run into one another when at the Stamford offices. Ella was glad to see her back, it was nice to have someone of the female sex to talk to backstage, the crew was heavily male and sometimes Ella thought she was going to drown in the testosterone that engulfed the backstage area night after night.

"Well good luck tonight! I'll try and catch a glimpse between promos."

"Thanks Ella! I'll catch up with you later."

"Bye Trish." With that Ella left Trish to get ready for her big return, Ella had other things to sort out.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

She had a good half an hour or so until her next promo as they'd filmed Kurt Angle's piece to camera rant over John Cena earlier that evening and was free to go find John. Ella found him sat at one of table in catering, he was by himself drinking a cup of coffee so she took the opportunity to go over and apologise. She crouched next to the empty seat beside him and peeked over the top.

"Hi."

"Hi." He grunted back taking a sip of his coffee Ella had expected this.

She pulled the seat out and she didn't miss the look of annoyance on John's face directed at her, despite this she ignored it and sat down.

"I'm sorry I was such a hag last week." She said getting straight to the point.

He took another sip of his coffee before replying; he continued to stare down at his coffee cup as he spoke.

"It's all right, we all have our moments."

Ella felt defeated she was getting nowhere fast.

"I got you a present."

"A present?" John asked puzzled, he turned to look at what Ella could have possibly had for him.

"For you." She pulled from behind her back a John Cena 'The Champ Is Here' shirt. "It was the best I could do at short notice I'm afraid, pretty lame peace offering I know."

On her travels to find him she'd ended up walking past one of the merchandise stalls and managed to convince one of the attendants to give her the shirt for free.

John slowly let a grin spread across his face.

"This is pretty good." He said finally breaking the silence and taking the shirt off of her. "Sorry I ignored you earlier. I guess I was being stubborn."

"It's alright." Ella smiled, "We all have our moments." She nudged him and they both shared a smile. "So Mr. Champ, I can count on your attendance for your promo later this evening?"

"You can count on it."

"Good, I don't think I could pass as you if you decided not to turn up."

"I don't know." John said looking over at Ella who glared back at him.

"Watch it Cena." She pointed a finger at him as she stood. "Just watch it!"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fortunately for Ella, John turned up on time for his promo with Eric Bischoff and it all went smoothly though Ella had to hide behind her clipboard to stop her laughter from interrupting the filming. John hung around as Ella helped clear up the set; he had only a few minutes before he was due at the ramp.

"So you are going to watch the match I take it?" He asked hitching his belt onto his shoulder, he knew she was now finished for the night.

"I might catch it on one of the monitors if I can."

"Well I hope you'll be cheering me on."

Ella rolled her eyes and leant her hand on her hip, "Have you been talking to Dave?" she said pointing her pen at him.

"Dave?" John asked confused.

"Never mind." Ella replied shaking her head, "Good luck."

"Catch you later Miss. Lewis."

"You just might."

John was surprised to see Ella sat ringside as he made his way into the ring. He had to do a double take as she mouthed 'good luck' to him and gave him a quick wave. With the work she'd done that afternoon by turning up early she'd managed to finish what work she had left for the evening so she could run out and catch the last match. She found herself really getting into the match and even caught herself cheering on John and winced when Kurt slammed him onto the mat. Just before the bell rang for the end of the match she quickly upped and left just as quick as she'd made it down to ringside for the match.

As John managed to limp out of the ring he looked over to where Ella had been sat and was disappointed to not see her, he didn't know at what point she could have left. He allowed the referee's lead him up the ramp – though he didn't need the help, he till had to sell the 'injuries' he'd sustained in the ring.

He made his way down the steps to the entrance ramp bay and was greeted to the welcome sight of Ella who had been waiting for him. He slung an arm around her shoulder that she embraced.

"I think I need the medic room." John said rubbing his back, which he'd landed awkwardly on.

"You ok?" Ella asked as she led him in the direction of the medic room.

"I'll live." He replied.

"Come on solider." She joked patting him on the back as they walked. John looked down at Ella and found himself pulling her closer to him for support, even though he knew he could easily make it to the medic room by himself. He gazed down at her in appreciation, feeling eyes on her Ella looked back up at him, "You ok John?" She asked.

"Yeah, I will be."