Author's Note: Monday morning, I was making an outline for the Evolution PPV chapter of this story. Monday night, I was crying my eyes out and deleted it. I'd made the decision to NOT to update this story again but I felt guilty because I turned Roman into an asshole last chapter (he would've eventually redeemed himself but that's neither here nor there now). This morning, I decided that I couldn't leave things that way.

That being said, this will officially be the last chapter of The Last One. I hope everyone enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I wouldn't feel right carrying the story on like normal with Roman and if I kept it going minus Roman my heart wouldn't have been in it.

Get well soon Joe so I can write more stories about you. ;-)


The Friday and Saturday house shows passed in a blur, Della was tired Sunday morning but when Elias turned up at her hotel room requesting to spend the morning with her before driving to the next town for Sunday's show, she made an effort and loved every moment of it. It felt great to spend time with him when there was no pressure for anything and she could take some time to get to know him. She had no idea if she could handle a relationship even though it annoyed her that she was not over what happened with Roman.

She was nervous about starting anything and the fact that Elias seemed to understand that and kept from pushing her in any way made that both better and worse. She felt bad for not being able to let him in just yet, but then she reminded herself that if she wasn't ready to commit to things with him in less than a month it was hardly something to worry about.

Elias was perfect, not only in his looks, but how he was with Della. He touched her a few times while they were out, just taking her hand or putting his arm around her shoulder and it made her appreciate the fact that she didn't have to hide that she was involved with him. This was dating openly and showed her what she could never have with Roman. Elias was with her most of the time, except when she went to bed. That was the only place she hadn't managed to let him as yet but he still wasn't pushing that aspect of their relationship. She knew she was holding back and he knew it as well but still he didn't pressure her. When they went to different cities, he'd get his own room and she'd room with Marina. After shows, she'd go down to his room for a few hours and he didn't seem to expect anything. Everything she hadn't had with Roman, she now had...the hand holding, dating and not hiding it, all the little things that she wanted.

He was someone she could plan a future with, fall asleep curled up with, make love to not just fuck. He didn't pretend they were nothing to each other and spent time with her friends and her family when they visited. He made her happy in ways she never thought she would be again. She could also vent about things that happened with Roman without mentioning his name and he didn't judge her.

It hadn't escaped her that most of her lingering thoughts about Roman were slowly being replaced with more immediate and needy ones relating to Elias. The more he became involved in her life the more she enjoyed having him there. It made her realise how shallow her life had become, sneaking around behind hotel walls with Roman in an arrangement she knew wouldn't work out. Even worse, during that space between their Summerslam breakup, dwelling on that time in her life without trying to sort herself out. She got to spend a lot more time at the Performance Center training as well as teaching new recruits. Marina was happy because Della obviously was too.

That Sunday night at the house show, Della deadlifted Nia for a gutwrench powerbomb. The crowd popped for her impressive show of strength. She went for the pin but Nia kicked out at 2. Nia fought to the corner and tagged in Ember so Della followed suit and tagged in Marina. Ember immediately hits Marina with a dropkick, wasting no time at all. Ember gets some offense in a series of kicking strikes and a enziguri. Marina ends her momentum full stop with a nasty Cuban Destroyer. 1...2...3.

Della secured her wet hair in a ponytail after the show. "You know what I've noticed...Roman hasn't been here all weekend. I wonder what's going on?"

"Who cares?" Marina shrugged. "How would you feel if Elias was mulling over the whereabouts of his ex?"

"If the reason for his concern was justified, I wouldn't care. Don't you find it strange that he's not here and there's no reason behind it?"

"No, not really," Marina shook her head. "The guy is married with children. Maybe he wanted to spend some time with them before the international tour starts."

"Yeah, you're probably right," Della agreed. The last time she saw him was Monday after Raw and he seemed perfectly fine. There was no visible injury and he wasn't limping or anything. Maybe she was simply overthinking it.


The drive to Raw the next day was awkward to say the least. The only ones talking were her, Marina and Elias. Seth remained silent the entire trip. It seemed like his thoughts were preoccupied with something. Even when Marina tried to include him in the conversation, he didn't respond and after a while she stopped.

When they pulled up to the arena, Elias and Marina immediately got out of the vehicle. Della was reaching for the door handle when Seth spoke for the first time.

"Della?"

"Hmm?"

He didn't turn around in his seat to look at her and his hands were gripping the steering wheel tight with white knuckles. "I think you should talk to Joe before the show starts."

"I haven't talk to Joe in weeks and as you know that last conversation didn't go well so I don't know what we'd have to discuss," she replied.

"Della, please let that petty bullshit you've been holding onto these last few weeks go! Tonight is much bigger than all of it," Seth's voice faltered.

She caught a glimpse of his eyes through the rearview mirror and they were sad. It was at this moment that she began to worry. "Something's wrong. Is he injured? Is his family okay?"

"Like I said, you need to talk to him. There's a select few that he doesn't want blindsided by the announcement and you're included in that number," he said.

"Announcement?" a dark feeling begin to come over her. "Seth, what's wrong?"

"It's not my story to tell," he dropped his head.

The car door opened. "He couldn't talk the whole ride but now he's chatting. What's going on?"

"Nothing, Marina, let's just go inside," Della was in a hurry to get out and inside to find Roman.

"What are you even looking for?" Marina asked as Della frantically walked around backstage.

"Girls, I'm glad I found you two," Triple H said walking into Della's path. "Walk to my office for a second."

Della sighed loudly in annoyance. "Okay."

"We finally have your plans for Evolution set," he said. "Your tag titles will be put on the line in a tag team invitational. You will go up against teams from both the past and the present."

"How long is this match supposed to be?" Marina asked but Della didn't care. She didn't care about anything at this moment except Roman.

"Twenty-five minutes but of course it's going to be small matches according to level of threat," he explained. "When you face the team of Torrie Wilson and Kelly Kelly, of course you could put them away in a squash in less than a minute, someone like Laycool you'd take 3-5 minutes up, same for the IIconics, Sasha and Bayley, Riott Squad, Absolution, Ivory and Molly Holly."

"We're keeping them, right?" Marina replied.

"Is that it?" Della hastily asked.

H seemed surprised by her reaction. "Yeah, you two have a match with the Riott Squad tonight and afterwards you can make the open challenge."

She looked at her phone and it was less than ten minutes to the start of the show. That's when she saw him. She found it weird that he was casually dressed this close to start. He'd usually have his logo'd muscle shirt, cargo pants and combats on by now. He didn't look like anything was wrong which confused her.

Roman turned around and his eyes found her. He looked down at his rolex and jerked his head to the left, signaling her to follow him until they found a secluded area. This was definitely something she didn't miss about dealing with him. The secretiveness and sneaking off. "Hey."

"Hey," she replied.

"I tried texting you this morning but I forgot you blocked me," he chuckled. "I had Rollins pass you the message."

"What's going on? He seemed kind of upset when we talked earlier," Della felt anxious and her nerves were on edge despite not knowing the nature of his pending announcement.

He took a deep breath and his chest rose and fell with it. "Before I begin, I don't want you to have any harsh feelings toward me especially after tonight. I want to apologize for the way I behaved and for the things I said to you. If I hurt you in anyway, I'm sorry."

"I'm not worried about that right now, Joe. I'm worried about you. I know you didn't mean it and I didn't mean any of the things I said to you in return. Now please, tell me what's going on," she begged.

"Delesia, I..."he trailed off, closing his eyes. A deep, cold feeling of dread arose in the pit of her stomach. It was clear whatever he had to say wasn't good. He composed himself and was about to speak again but he paused when he looked over her shoulder. Della turned around to follow his vision and saw Marina approaching.

"Please tell me you aren't reverting back to your old ways. I thought we established that he was a piece of shit back in Australia," Marina said. "I wasn't even looking for you, I was casually walking and saw this. What if Elias did the same?"

"Marina, stop! Something is wrong with him," Della replied.

"I can think of a few things wrong with him but Raw is about to start and I don't have time to list them all. If you'll excuse us," Marina sneered at Roman before dragging Della away.

It wasn't soon after they entered the locker room that the show started and his theme hit. Della planted herself in front of the television in there. None of the other women were really paying attention until he began speaking.

"He looks kind of sad," Sasha noted, still getting dressed for tonight.

"I wonder if he's injured. It would make sense why he missed the house shows this weekend," Bayley replied. "We'll see in a minute, I guess."

"..my real name is Joe and I've been living with Leukemia for 11 years..." he paused momentarily.

Everyone gasped and it felt like the air was sucked out of the room. The room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. No one seemed to know what to say or how to react as they stared back and forth in disbelief at each other.

"...and unfortunately it's back," he finished the sentence.

Della felt numb and the rest of his speech barely penetrated her. She couldn't think, concentrate or move. She didn't realize she was holding her breath until her body forced her to gasp in a deep breath.

Most of the girls had emptied the locker room by the time he made his way up the ramp but Della couldn't leave. When Della was alone with the exception of Marina, she sank down the wall, weeping.

"Holy shit," Marina sat down. "Do you want to go out there?"

"No, I can't. I'm going to break down and hang onto him until I feel like letting him go and I won't care who's there to witness it," Della declined through tears. "All I know is I can't be in this locker room when everyone returns. I just need to be alone right now."

Della walked in the opposite direction of everyone else. She didn't know where she was going as she moved aimlessly.

"Stoney?" she heard Elias calling her name but she kept moving.

Della entered a break room on the other side of the arena consisting of several small circular tables and chairs, along with microwaves and two refrigerators. She was glad that she was alone because at this point she was inconsolable anyway.

Cancer. Cancer. How could this happen to him? But that's when she realized that no matter who you were, how rich or how attractive a person was, cancer didn't discriminate. She tried to think positively but when she thought about Galina and his three young children that'll be fighting this battle alongside him, she broke down again.

Marina: Where r u.

Della: Break room

Marina: Where?

Della: I don't even kno. I just walked until I found it.

Marina: K. I'll find you.

Della: Pls don't especially if you're bringing negativity.

Marina: Do u really think I'd do that after what just happened?

About fifteen minutes later, the door opened and Marina sighed in relief. "I've opened just about every door in this arena and I've walked in on some weird shit on the way. I'm here and as you can see I didn't bring negative but I did however bring something else. Someone else, rather."

When Della looked up, Joe was leaning in the doorframe. "I saw the rest of the card tonight and I believe you have a match later on. You can't got out there all puffy and swollen now, can you?"

Della screamed for him, running to hug him as she cried and blubbered. He tightened his hold of her and she felt like a wet sponge, the harder he squeezed, the more water fell from her eyes. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I tried," he simply replied.

She shook her head. "No, before tonight."

"I was in remission so it wasn't really relevant until tonight. When we were together things were fun and carefree and I didn't want to talk about something like that especially if you were going to react this way," he teased.

"Yeah, I'm a wreck as you can see but can you blame me?" she sniffed. "Are you going to be okay,"

He nodded. "Yes, in time. I beat this thing once and I'm going to do it again."

"This doesn't seem real," she was still in disbelief. It was hard to process it. Joe was only human but to her he felt immortal. "Please tell me this isn't real. Tell me that Vince has finally lost his mind and forced you to say that in some sick, twisted angle."

"No, Delesia, unfortunately it's very real and I wouldn't dare joke about it," he confirmed.

She responded with a fresh round of tears. "Joe, you are no doubt the strongest man I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. You work 300 days a year carrying this company on your back, you went out there and bumped like crazy and took all kinds of crap from the fans all while secretly dealing with this. You're a man who never talked about surviving leukemia to anyone, never complained, exploited it or used it as an excuse. You continued to push yourself, you worked hard and you set an example for everyone in the locker room all while being a kind and cons who continued to push himself, work hard, and set an example for others, all while apparently being a kind and conscientious guy. You've always been the GOAT in my book since I've had the opportunity to work with you up close and personal but this just cemented it."

"Me, the GOAT and not some Japanese wrestler?" he snorted humorously. "I'm honored."

"Why are you joking at a time like this?" she was puzzled by his nonchalance.

"It's like I said out there, I have faith. This isn't just a physical battle, it's a mental one as well. It's going to be a long and hard road, I won't lie but I plan to stay in high spirits throughout the ordeal," he replied and now she understood.

"How is your family taking it?"

"My brother's loss is still fresh on my dad is pretty broken up about it as well as my mom. The boys are too young to know that anything's wrong. Jojo is taking it pretty hard. I was afraid to tell her but she watches RAW so I knew I had to sit her down and talk to her beforehand. A few minutes ago you called me the strongest man you've ever met, well, I consider Galina the strongest woman I've ever met. When I found out, I cried more than she did that night. I couldn't even look at my kids but she had to be strong for the both of us for them," he teared up but blinked it away. "Delesia, I will never think of you as a mistake and I enjoyed every second of our time together but this coming back made me feel horrible about what I've been doing behind her back. She has literally been there for me through thick and thin, rich and poor, cancer and recovery and now cancer again. When I beat this, I'm going to spend the next 11 years and the next 11 years after that making it up to her."

"I wouldn't expect anything less," she smiled.

He looked down at his watch. "Alright, I have to hit the road now."

Della held on to him as tight as she could because she knew this may be the last time she'd see him for a long time. "Joe, I love you...platonically."

"Same...platonically," he replied. "Despite your accusations, you're still and will forever be the last one. I'll be watching from home every now and then and I expect to see you doing what you do best."

"I'm going to unblock you now so I hope I can hear from you every now and then…" she said, hopeful.

"You will," he assured her. "I'll see you soon."

"Don't say that," she shook her head. "Sure, that's what I want to hear and I'm sure the fans are going to be guesstimating a timeline for your return but you take as much time as you need. I don't care if it's 6 months from now, a year or even five years, don't rush it. Enjoy this time with your family and make sure you're 100% when you do return."

"Thank you," he slowly pulled away.

Della was surprised to see Marina wiping tears when he walked by. "Rom..I mean, Joe, I don't know what to say. I-"

"Just bring it in," he opened his arms offering her a hug that she accepted without hesitation. "I'm sorry I called you a bitch that night."

"Eh, I've been so mean to you these last few months and it would've been appropriate for how I treated you tonight when you were only trying to disclose your situation to D."

"No, it's never appropriate and don't go soft on me now. At the end of the day, I know you were just looking out for Delesia like a good friend should. No matter how hard we tried to clean it up, what we had felt right but it was wrong and you were the only one willing to call us out on it. But that's not important anymore. It's up to you to take care of her now...and Rollins."

"I will and you take care of yourself," Marina patted him on the back.

Della turned her head away. She couldn't watch him leave but she forced herself to look at him not knowing if this would be the last time she ever saw him. He smiled at her before disappearing and she felt better. The look of determination on his face was not of that of a man ready to give up and she was confident that he'd bounce back from this.

"This is probably the first and last time I'll give you permission to cry over a married man," Marina gave her a hug of comfort and Della cried on her shoulder for at least five minutes. "Alright, dry it up. We have a match soon. I'm sure Roman himself would tell you that the show must go on."


Just like the ride to the arena, the ride from the arena was awkward and quiet. Della usually showered but tonight she ran a tub of water to soak her body as well as her sorrows.

Elias walked in and sat on the side of the tub and circled his hand around in the water. She was naked. He hadn't seen her body since Australia but she didn't care at the moment enough to shy away. "We've officially been together a few weeks now and I've never once lied to you. Can you say the same?"

"Yeah," Della answered without paying much thought to what he was saying or the point he was trying to make.

"Okay, now that's two lies," he replied.

"Jeffrey, tonight is not the night for whatever this is we're doing right now," she sighed in exasperation.

"No, Stoney, this needs to be said and maybe it'll help you cope if we talked about it openly instead of you keeping it bottled up inside," he stated. "On our first date, I asked you if the guy was on the roster, you said no. You've been telling me about this mystery guy for weeks now. It's Reigns, isn't it?"

Della sat up hard and splashed water on the floor in the process. She was tired of lying at this point and decided to admit it. "How'd you know?"

"It was pretty easy to figure out. He wasn't as friendly with me as he was before you and I began dating, you avoided him, I'd catch him watching you, Marina openly showed disdain for him and finally, this. Maybe you should've taken a shower because the steady stream of water would've drowned out the crying and I wouldn't have heard," he replied.

"Are you mad? Are you going to tell anyone?" she asked in succession.

"Nah, I have nothing but respect for Roman and something that happened before our time isn't going to change my opinion of either of you. WHEN he makes it back I'm going to walk up to him, shake his hand and thank him because wherever he went wrong drove you to me and I'm grateful," he said.

There was something other than this conversation going on in Della's mind. Her internal discussion and him knowing the truth made her realize that there was no point in holding back on something that she really wanted. The way she felt about Elias was so different from anything she'd felt before, even her love for Joe and tonight she was going to show it.

"Take me to bed, please," she whispered to him.

He raised a brow. "Are you sure about this? I really don't mind waiting."

"I'm sure," she smiled. Her words were so determined he didn't doubt her, sweeping her up from the water and carrying her into his room.

"This time, you better not get out of my bed until in the morning. Promise you won't run again," he requested.

"I promise," she nodded.

The End...