Evie sighed and stretched, loving that she was able to stretch on her own front porch. She listened to the sound of the wind through the trees, their sighing and rustling soothing her as she went through the motions to loosen her legs and hips. Leaving her headphones at home for once, she secured her phone in its armband just in case she was needed for something and started out at an easy pace.

As her speed increased, Evie let her mind wander to the weekend past. The Hall of Fame ceremony had driven her to both laughter and tears, causing Jon to chuckle and squeeze her hand when she removed a handkerchief from her small clutch purse to dab at her eyes. Galina's manicured fingers had reached across Joe and Jon towards the blonde, and another lacy square of cloth had been deposited into her palm.

There had been a reception after the ceremony in the ballroom of the beautiful Bourbon Orleans Hotel with dinner served buffet style. Carriages drawn by horses had taken the Superstars and guests from the arena to the hotel, and Jon had taken great pleasure in watching Evie's face light up as they rattled over the streets. A few people had turned to watch them go, and Evie had waved happily when a few younger women called out a hello to 'Cinderella'.

Jon had introduced her to Dusty Rhodes as "my girl", which had sent her into a blushing mess for a moment. The wrestling legend had simply laughed and pulled her into a fatherly hug before stealing her away for a turn around the floor as the string quartet began to play. When he brought her back to Jon, she was beaming with the compliments he'd given both herself and Jon as they moved slowly along the polished floor. She was given the same treatment by Jake "the Snake" Roberts, though he asked if she were interested in running away with an old man. Dallas Page had chuckled at his friend and then gave a nod to Jon before doing the exact same, though his moves were a lot smoother and practiced as he dipped and twirled her to the delight of the spectators.

"Having fun?" Smiling, Jon had taken her hand and led her back out onto the floor after the older men had moved on.

Evie, smiling and giggling, had nodded. "Uh-huh! Thank you so much for bringing me!"

"Like I could come to a ballroom without my princess?" With that, he dipped her and twirled at the same time, so that a few of the onlookers gasped and she came up laughing.

"Where did you learn how to dance like this?!"

He had grinned widely. "A bunch of the guys in Dragon Gate Wrestling took ballroom dancing. Helped with timing in the ring."

Evie smiled. "Did all the guys learn how to do this?"

He shrugged and did the dip/spin again. "I might have signed up for extra lessons."

Even now, jogging up the steep incline and forcing herself to go farther than she had the last few times she'd run outside, Evie couldn't help but chuckle to herself.

She had passed the overlook by two miles when she decided to take a looping trail back down. It would take her down to the little store that sat about a mile up from her own home. Trail running was a bit more difficult than the asphalt of the road, but she was feeling up to the challenge.

Part of the trail had been washed out by melting snow and an early spring storm, and she slid a bit. Her hands a bit scuffed and her leggings slightly dusty, Evie made it off the trail nearly an hour after she started down. A flower delivery van was just leaving her driveway as she entered her property, and she didn't bother to fight the smile.

On her porch, sitting on the table in the deepest part of the shade, she found a tall crystal vase. Tall red and white flowers that almost looked like tiger lilies were mixed with small red and yellow blooms. Brilliant yellow bells accented the arrangement while cones of tiny purple buds formed a beautiful backdrop for the entire thing. The card, written in Jon's strong hand, said simply: 'Vervain, Amaryllis, Yellow Jasmine, Austrian Rose'.

Taking the vase inside, she retrieved her book. "Vervain for enchantment. Amaryllis for pride. Yellow Jasmine for elegance and grace, and the Austrian rose meaning 'you are all that is lovely'."

The phone was ringing before she really thought of calling him.

Jon was well into his desert run, his heart pounding and his chest glistening with sweat, when his phone rang. "Hey, Princess."

"Are you okay?" His voice sounded rushed and his breath short.

"I'm good. Just mid run."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Evie frowned. "Just got home from my own and found a very lovely surprise waiting on me."

Jon chuckled, taking the opportunity to stretch his back and legs while they spoke. "Glad you liked them."

"I love them! They're so pretty and smell so good."

Chuckling, Jon invited her out to dinner that night. "We've got house shows all weekend and then the Warrior tribute show will be on Monday. After that, we only got a couple shows before the Easter weekend break."

Evie frowned and got a cup of cool water. "How's everyone doing with that?"

"Pretty good, I guess." Jon sighed. "I mean, he was a huge influence on a lot of us, but we didn't know him personally, you know?"

"Yeah, I understand."

Clearing his throat, Jon felt his muscles starting to cool down and wanted to finish the conversation before that happened. "Look, I have to get back to my run, but are we on for dinner?"

"Oh, right. Sorry!" Evie shook her head at herself. "Yes, we're on for dinner. Where did you want to meet?"

"My place? At 7?"

"Sounds good. Should I dress up or what?"

Jon chuckled. "Well, I'm wearing jeans and taking you to a honkytonk after we eat. So. . ."

Laughing, Evie said her goodbyes before heading up the stairs to get a shower and change before her appointment in the city that afternoon.

She ended up pulling on a light tan, off the shoulder dress with a layered prairie skirt that ended at her knees. The cowgirl boots were darker brown to match the braided leather belt around her waist. Her turquois and silver earrings were the only pieces of jewelry other than the bracelet she only removed when working out or showering. She had coiled her hair and pinned it in a messy bun at the top of her head while it was still wet so that it would dry in waves before meeting Jon for dinner. She kept her makeup light, though she stashed different colors in her purse for later.

She arrived at the small adobe building nearly an hour after leaving her home. Dr. Cheryl Ellis had been her therapist since she moved to Las Vegas nearly eight years earlier. She had come highly recommended by the therapist who had worked with Evie for the five or six years since she left her father's house. Dr. Ellis had been there as she struggled to adapt to college life, and had been a comfort when her first real boyfriend went running for the hills the first time his hand had ghosted under her shirt. Now, while she didn't visit her every week as she once did, Evie went to see her once a month in order to maintain some level of routine and as a way to keep tabs on her own mental health.

"Hello, Evelyn," Dr. Ellis nodded kindly and welcomed her into the office quietly. She was always quiet, as if a raised voice would shatter the very walls around them. "How is the job going?"

"Really well, actually." Evie sank into the overstuffed chair in front of the doctor's desk. "It's really busy, but fun at the same time. I have a lot to do for three people, but it's still cool."

"What's his name?"

Evie blinked. "Whose name?"

"The man who has you grinning the way you are." Dr. Ellis smiled. "I've been a psychologist since 1975 and a mother for almost as long. I know these things."

"His name is Jonathon. Jon. Dean Ambrose on TV." Evie grinned.

"Ah, he is quite attractive." The doctor nodded, a twinkle in her eyes. "Very nice arms."

"Yeah," she sighed. "And very sweet."

Dr. Ellis, obviously picking up on her tone of voice, sat forward in her chair. "And you don't think you deserve him?"

"I don't know. I know there's nothing wrong with me mentally, and that I'm built okay, but I just worry."

"About what?"

"That I won't be enough for him." Evie swallowed a gulp of her iced coffee to give herself time to think. "I'm scared that he won't want me once he knows that I'm not experienced."

"First, I want you to know that being a virgin is nothing to be ashamed of. Plenty of people are in their twenties before they have sexual intercourse for the first time. Second, if this man is worth your time, then he'll be willing to take things at your pace and respect you as a person first. Lastly, I don't know that any man would necessarily hate the thought of being a pretty girl's first lover."

"But what about the . . . other stuff?" Chewing her lip, Evie drew her knitting from her bag and began working as she spoke. "I don't think a guy like Jon will be too excited about sleeping with a girl who keeps her shirt on the whole time."

"Well, probably not!" Shaking her head, the doctor smiled comfortingly. "My advice is to tell him about your lack of physical experience first, feel out the situation and see where that leads. When you're ready, or if a situation arises that calls for it, you discuss all the other things you need to let him know about. He does know about your past, correct?"

Evie nodded, counting stitches quietly in her head as she went. "Yes, I've told him about some of the abuse, and he knows I was adopted as a teenager."

"That's good, then." Dr. Ellis then leaned back in her chair. "Now, tell me about your stress levels."

O:O:O:O:O:

Evie left the doctor's office feeling lighter and a little more at ease with her budding relationship with Jon. Dr. Ellis had been suitably impressed with his gifts of flowers and the charms, stating that it was a good sign that he was learning what she liked instead of just doing run-of-the-mill things. Now, she had nearly four hours to kill before she was to meet him for their date. Knowing that they would be eating together, she decided to avoid having a snack and instead spent the time mostly window shopping.

There were a few things she just couldn't pass up, so she purchased them and then locked them in the trunk of her car before popping into a mall bathroom to remove and then re-apply her makeup for the evening. Her eye shadow was made dark and smoky while her lips were painted a blush pink. Letting her hair down, she gave the waves a light spritz with the small bottle of hairspray she kept in her purse. Once satisfied, she fairly skipped to her car and made it to his place with ten minutes to spare.

Jon had just put the large pot of water on to boil when there was a quick knock at his front door. Glancing at his clock, he grinned at her promptness. Turning the fire under the sauce down to low, he wiped his hands on a towel and went to let her in.

Evie smiled up at him, and he grinned happily in return. "You look great tonight, Darlin'."

She snorted and rolled her eyes as he stepped aside and motioned her past him. "You always say that, Jon."

"And I'm never lying." He pressed a kiss to the crown of her head as he moved around her and led her into the kitchen. "Hope you don't mind, but I thought we could eat here first?"

"Sounds good to me. What're we having?" Evie noticed that their accents were playing off each other and becoming slightly more pronounced as they spoke, both completely comfortable with where they were.

"Um," Jon was suddenly uncomfortable with what he had picked. Maybe he should've just ordered in instead of actually trying to impress her. "Just spaghetti and salads."

"Oh, I love spaghetti!"

"Really?"

"Uh-huh!" Evie grinned and deposited her purse on the counter by the wall so it wouldn't be in the way. "I once spent two months eating almost nothing but Mom's spaghetti."

"Well, I'm not gonna say that my cookin' is anywhere close to as good as your mom's, but I can make this pretty well."

Evie laughed. "Well, what can I do to help?"

Jon put her on salad duty while he finished the main course, and she spent the next few minutes slicing vegetables and tossing them with lettuce before setting the table. Jon had offered her beer or iced tea, so she chose the latter before sliding into her seat. He plated generous servings for them both and joined her at the small table.

Evie was halfway through her dinner when she finally got the nerve to broach the subject that had been on her mind since leaving her doctor's office. "So, we need to talk."

Jon nearly choked on the noodles and sauce he'd just put in his mouth. "What'd I do?!"

"No!" She hurried to reassure him. "Nothing like that. I just have to tell you something, and I'm not sure how you're going to take it."

Jon set his fork down, training his crystalline blue eyes on her. "Why? What'd you do?"

"It's not what I've done," she sighed and began twisting her fingers in her lap. "It's more like what I haven't done."

He made a bit of a sound, so she continued. "Jon, I'm a virgin. And I know that's some sort of huge responsibility, and you're probably trying to figure out what's wrong with me, and now you probably don't want anything to do with me because I really have no idea what I'm doing past kissing you, and I really really like kissing you, and my psychologist said I needed to tell you so we could figure out what we were really doing with each other and if our goals for the future matched up before we took this huge step together."

Jon blinked as he watched Evie speak from his seat across the table. He did have a few questions, but she was speaking so quickly that he couldn't get a word in edgewise. She eventually ran out of steam and stopped talking with a tiny bit of a shrug. She didn't look up from her lap, however, and that bothered him.

"Princess," he spoke softly and waited until he saw her pretty green eyes. "I have a few questions, and I need you to be honest."

She nodded. "Of course."

"Have I done anything that you weren't comfortable with?"

"No, not at all! Not ever!"

He was able to breathe easier now that he knew. "Good. I don't want to ever make you feel like you have to do something just to please me. Everything else, we can figure out."

"Yeah?"

He grinned easily. "Darlin', being your first is a huge deal and a great responsibility because I want things to be good for you. But, I think I'm up to the task. I'm not going to call this off just because you're not as experienced as some other girls are. Hell, I wouldn't want you if you were just some whore."

She nodded quietly and felt at ease enough to begin eating again as he spoke. "So you're okay with going a little slow while I figure things out?"

"Princess, I want things to last between us. Rushing into things doesn't seem to work for me at all, so letting you hold the reins on this one is probably the best thing for us anyway." Jon returned to eating as she mulled over what he had said.

"So, you want me to stick around for a while?" She wasn't sure why she needed the reassurance, but she sought it out anyway.

"Let's just say that I am increasingly happy with the thought of you being my last first kiss."

Blushing, she sipped her tea. "How are you this perfect?"

Jon snorted a laugh. "There are a lot of people who would disagree with you on that one, babe. I started wrestling when I was 16, women in the Indies were pretty much of the free and easy variety, so that's what I got used to. Since you're nothing like them, I guess I'm just doing things as opposite to how I used to be as I can."

"I knew your reputation before you asked me out, you know." Evie smiled at his surprised expression. "It's kind of hard not to hear about some things."

"And?"

"I thought I'd give you one date and then see how things went." She shrugged elegantly. "You were just too sweet, and I thought maybe you had grown out of a lot of your wildness."

"The craziness is still there, Evie."

She smiled and nodded. "And it probably always will be. You don't come out of that sort of childhood with all your marbles where they should be. But I think you're tempered with experience and patience now."

Conceding her point, Jon let the conversation lull into comfortable silence as they finished their dinner.

"I've got dishes," Evie smiled. "You cooked!"

"I've got a dishwasher for a reason," he protested lightly. "Let it do its job."

"Then you'll have to let me cook for you sometime," Evie smiled.

"Twist my arm, why don't ya." Leaning down, he kissed her lightly as he passed on his way into the kitchen.

After touching up her lipstick, Evie was ready to leave. Jon took her to the Boots n Spurs Saloon to listen to the various live country bands that played there every Wednesday and to dance for a while. She had never been two-stepping before, so it took her a bit longer to get the steps down, and they laughed at her flubs until it clicked. Then, they moved around the floor with ease.

Evie was unsurprised to see pictures of the two of them on Twitter later that night.

The two of them had taken a cab to the honkytonk, as they would both be drinking, and so they caught another one back to Jon's apartment. Evie knew she wouldn't be driving home before the sun came up, as Jon had to loop his arm around her waist in order to hold her upright as they moved up the stairs to his place. She had grown giggly and flirtatious as the night went on, though she was cautious to remain sober enough not to make a fool of herself.

"C'mon, Princess." Jon led her down the hall in his apartment to his bedroom. "Let's put on comfy clothes and watch a movie."

"But I don't have any." Evie yawned and then frowned.

"I'll find you something, okay?"

"Okay," she nodded and sank down on the edge of his bed.

Evie worked her boots off and set them off to the side while he turned to find her something to wear to bed. Rummaging through his drawers, he smirked and pulled an old shirt out of the bottom most section of his dresser. When he turned to hand it to her, she sort of frowned before shrugging and taking it from him and slipping into the bathroom to take care of her personal needs and change.

Jon was settling into bed, a movie cued up on the television, when Evie stepped into the room. His old CZW shirt, its yellow and red logo a bit cracked with age and repeated washings, hung off her shoulder alluringly and fell to her thighs. Her legs were smooth and lightly tanned. The small white socks she'd left on adding to the look enough that Jon chuckled and shook his head as she slid under the sheets beside him.

"What?" She raised an eyebrow as she made herself comfortable against the pillows behind her.

Shaking his head, he pressed play on the remote and sank down beside her. "You're just about the most adorable thing I've ever seen in my life."

"Huh?" Confused, she looked away from the opening title sequence of Die Hard and focused on Jon's clear blue eyes.

Shaking his head, he captured her lips in a gentle kiss. "Like the way you look in my shirt."

"'s really comfy." Evie blushed and then lifted her lips to his for another brief caress.

Running his fingers through her hair for a moment, he cupped the back of her head and kissed her long and deep. "You should keep it."

"Yeah?"

He settled back against the pillows, shrugging in a way that he hoped was casual, and then sighing in contentment as she tucked herself against his chest. "Give you something to hang out in when we're on the road."

A while later, the last thing either of them heard was the sound of each other talking along with the movie sleepily. "A hundred million terrorists in the world, and I gotta kill one with feet smaller than my sister."

Thoughts on Evie's revelation? Ideas of how things will progress from here?